CHRONICLES OF CANADA
Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton
In thirty-two volumes
9
THE ACADIAN EXILES
BY ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY
Part III
The English Invasion
IN THE PARISH CHURCH AT GRAND PRE, 1755
From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys
THE
ACADIAN EXILES
A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline
BY
ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY
TORONTO
GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
1916
Copyright in all Countries subscribing to
the Berne Convention
F
52-71
J)73
r
TO
LADY BORDEN
WHOSE RECOLLECTIONS OF
THE LAND OF EVANGELINE
WILL ALWAYS BE
VERY DEAR
CONTENTS
Page
I. THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA ... X
. THE BRITISH IN ACADIA .... I?
4411. THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 28
IV. IN TIMES OF WAR ..... 47
V. CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS . . 59
VI. THE 'ANCIENT BOUNDARIES' 71
VII. A LULL IN THE CONFLICT ... 83
VIII. THE LAWRENCE REGIME .... 88
^*X. THE EXPULSION . . ... 114
THE EXILES ...... 138
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . .162
INDEX ..... X73
ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THE PARISH CHURCH AT GRAND PRE,
1750 ....... Frontispiece
From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.
THE ACADIAN PENINSULA . . . Facingpage i
Map by Bartholomew.
THE BOUNDARIES OF ACADIA, OFFICIAL
MAP ,,82
Reproduced by Bartholomew.
CHAPTER I
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA
[THE name Acadia^j which we now associate
with a great tragedy of history and songfgras
first used by the French to distinguisnTlie
eastern ormaritime part oTNew France from
me weslernrj>art, which began^with the
^]TTJawrence~valley and was called Canada/j
Tjust where Acadia ended and Qanada began
me French never clearly defined-j^n course
of time, as will be seen, this question became
a cause of war with the Engjish but we shall
not be much at fault if wQake a line from the
mouth of the river Penobscot, due north to
the St Lawrence, to mark the western frontier
1 The origin of the name is uncertain. By some authorities
it is supposed to be derived from the Micmac algaty, signifying
a camp or settlement. Others have traced it to the Micmac
aka.de, meaning a place where something abounds. Thus, Sun-
akade (Shunacadie, C.B.), the cranberry place ; Seguboon-ahade
(Shubenacadie), the place of the potato, etc. The earliest map
marking the country, that of Ruscelli (1561), gives the name
Lacardie. Andr6 Thivet, a French writer, mentions the country
in 1575 as Arcadia ; and many modern writers believe Acadia to
be merely a corruption of that classic name.
A.E. A
2 THE ACADIAN EXILES
of the Acadia of the French.! Thus, as the
map shows, Acadia lay in that^reat peninsular
which is flanlSedTBy two large islands, and is
washed on the north and east by the river dficT
gulf of St Lawrence, and on the south by the
Atlantic Ocean ; and it comprised what are
to-day parts of <2uebec_and Maine^as well as
the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
and Prince Edward IslandTT When the French
came, and for long afterjthis country was
the hunting ground of tribes of the Algonquin
race Micmacs, Malecites, and Abnakis or
Abenakis.
By right of the discoveries of Jean Verra-
zano (1524) and Jacques Cartier (1534-42)
the French crown laid claim to all America
north of the sphere of Spanish influence..
Colonial enterprise, however, did not thrive
during the religious wars which rent Europe
in the sixteenth century ; and it was not
until after the Edict of Nantes in 1598 that
France could follow up the discoveries of her
seamen by an effort to colonize either Acadia
or_jCana,da. Abortive attempts had indeed
been made by the Marquis de la Roche, but
these had resulted only in the marooning of
Jifty unfortunate convicts on Sable Island.
I The first real colonizing venture of the French
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA 3
in the New World was that of the Sieur de
Monts, the patron and associate of Cham-
plain. 1 The site of this first colony was in
Acadia. Armed with viceregal powers and
a trading monopoly for ten years, De Monts
gathered his colonists, equipped two ships,
and set out from Havre de Grace in April
16047"! |7fce company numbered about a hun-
drecTancT fifty Frenchmen of various rarn^
and conditions, from the lowest to the highest^
convicts taken from the prisons, labourers
and artisans, Huguenot ministers and Catholic
priests, some gentlemen of noble birth, among
them Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Pou-
trincourt, and the already famous explorer
Champlain.
The vessels reached Cape La Heve on the
south coast of Nova Scotia in May. They
rounded Cape Sable, sailed up the Bay of
Fundy, and entered the Annapolis Basin,
which Champlain named Port Royal. The
scene here so stirred the admiration of the
Baron de Poutrincourt that he coveted the
place as an estate for his family, and begged
De Monts, who by his patent was lord of the
entire country, to grant him the adjoining
lands. De Monts consented ; the estate was
1 See The Founder of New France in this Series, chap, ii
4 THE ACADIAN EXILES
conveyed ; and Poutrincourt became the
seigneur of Port Royal.
The adventurers crossed to the New Bruns-
wick shore, turned their vessel westward,
passed the mouth of the river St John, which
they named, and finalty dropped anchor in
Passamaquoddy Bay.^Jflere, on a small
island near the mouth ofthe river St Croix,
now on the boundary-line between New
Brunswick and Maine, De Monts landed his
colonists. They cleared the ground ; and,
within an enclosure known as the Habitation
de V Isle Saincte-Croix, erected a few buildings"!
<one made with very fair and artificial
carpentry work ' for De Monts, while others,
less ornamental, were for ' Monsieur d'Orville,
Monsieur Champlein, Monsieur Champdore,
and other men of high standing.'
Then as the season waned the vessels, which
linked them to the world they had left, un-
furled their sails and set out for France.
Seventy-nine men remained at St Croix,
among them De Monts and Champlain. In
the vast solitude of forest they settled down
for the wintegprwhich was destined to be full
of horrors. iJBy spring thirty-five of the com-
pany had died of scurvy and twenty more
were at the point of death. Evidently
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA 5
St Croix was not a good place for a colony.
The soil was sandy and there was no fresh
water. So, in June, after the arrival of a
vessel bringing supplies from France, De Monts
and Champlain set out to explore the coasts
in search of a better siteTT! Buf, finding none
which they deemed suitatne,^hey decided
tempt fortune at PuuliiiTCuui'lrS demain
Port Royalty Thither, then, in August the ft,
colonists moved, carrying their implements
and stores across the Bay of Fundy, andfTand-
ing on the north side of the Annapolis Basin,
opposite Goat Island, where the village of
Lower Granville now stands.
Jrhe colony thus formed at Port Royal in the
summer of 1605 the first agricultural settle-
ment of Europeans on soil which is now
Canadia^^-had a broken existence of eight
years. >juwing to intrigues at the French
court, De Monts lost his charter in 1607 and
the colony was temporarily abandoned ; but
it was re-established in 1610 by Pputrincourt
and his son Charles de Biencourt. The
episode of Port Royal, one of the most lively
in Canadian history, introduces to us some
striking characters. Besides the leaders in
the enterprise, already mentioned De Monts,
Champlain, Poutrincourt, and Biencourt
6 THE ACADIAN EXILES
we meet here Lescarbot, 1 lawyer, merry
philosopher, historian, and farmer ; likewise,
Louis Hebert, planting vines and sowing
wheat the same Louis Hebert who after-
wards became the first tiller of the soil at
Quebec. Here, also, is Membertou, sagamore
of the Micmacs, ' a man of a hundred
summers ' and ' the most formidable savage
within the memory of man.' Hither, too,
in 1611, came the Jesuits Biard and Masse,
the first of the black-robed followers of
Loyola to set foot in New France. But the
colony was to perish in an event which fore-
shadowed the struggle in America between
France and England. In 1613 the English
Captain Argall from new-founded Virginia
sailed up the coasts of Acadia looking for
Frenchmen. The Jesuits had just begun on
Mount Desert Island the mission of St Sauveur.
This Argall raided and destroyed. He then
went on and ravaged Port Royal. And its
occupants, young Biencourt and a handful
of companions, were forced to take to a
wandering life among the Indians.
1 Lescarbot was the historian of the colony. His History of
New France, reprinted by the Champlain Society (Toronto, 1911),
with an English translation, notes, and appendices by W. L.
Grant, is a delightful and instructive work.
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA 7
renty years passed before the French
made another organized effort to colonize
Acadia. The interval, however, was not
without events which had a bearing on the
later fortunes of the colony. Missionaries
from Quebec, both Recollets and Jesuits, took
up their abode among the Indians, on the
river St John and at Nipisiguit on Chaleur
Bay. Trading companies exploited the fur
fields and the fisheries, and French vessels
visited the coasts every summer. It was
during this period that the Epylisfr Puritans
landed at Plymouth (1620), at Salem (1628),
and at Boston (1630), and made a lodgment
there on me souin-wesr name ot Acadia. The
period, too, saw Sir William Alexander's
Scots in Nova Scotia and saw the English
Kirkes raiding the settlements of New
France. 1 -x
The Baron de Poutrincourt died in 1615,
leaving his estate to his son Biencourt. And
after Biencourt's own death in 1623, it was
found that he had bequeathed a consider-
able fortune, including all iitH hi ni pjfQJK^rty^gjpd
rights in Acadia, to his friend and companion,
that interesting and resourceful adventurer,
Charles de la Tour. This man, when a lad of
1 See The Jesuit Missions in this Series, chap. iv.
8 THE ACADIAN EXILES
fourteen, and his father, Claude de la Tour,
had come out to Acadia in the service of
Poutrincourt. After the destruction of Port
Royal, Charles de la Tour had followed young
Biencourt into the forest, and had lived with
him the nomadic life of the Indians. Later,
the elder La Tour established himself for
trade at the mouth of the Penobscot, but he
was driven away from this post by a party
from the English colony at Plymouth. The
younger La Tour, after coming into Bien-
court's property, built Fort Lomeron, after-
wards named St Louis, at the place now
known as Port Latour, near Cape Sable.
This made him in fact, if not in name, the
French ruler of Acadia, for his Fort St Louis
was the only place of any strength in the whole
country.
By 1627 the survivors of Biencourt 's wan-
dering companions had settled down, some
of them in their old quarters at Port Royal,
but most of them with La Tour at Cape Sable.
Then came to Acadia seventy Scottish settlers,
sent hither by Sir William Alexander, who
took up their quarters at Port Royal and
named it Scots Fort. The French described
these settlers as ' all kinds of vagabonds,
barbarians, and savages from Scotland ' ;
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA 9
and the elder La Tour went to France to
procure stores and ammunition, and to petition
the king to grant his son a commission to
hold Acadia against the intruders. But the
elder La Tour was not to come back in the
role of a loyal subject of France. He was
returning in 1628 with the ships of the newly
formed Company of One Hundred Associates,
under Roquemont, when, off the Gaspe coast,
appeared the hostile sail of the Kirkes ; and
La Tour was taken prisoner to England.
There he entered into an alliance with the
English, accepted grants of land from Sir
William Alexander, had himself and his son
made Baronets of Nova Scotia, and promised
to bring his son over to the English side.
Young La Tour, when his father returned,
accepted the gift, and by some means procured
also, in 1631, a commission from the French
king as lieutenant-general of Acadia. Later,
as we shall see, his dual allegiance proved
convenient.
The restoration of Acadia to France in
1632, by the Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye,
was to Cardinal Richelieu the signal for a
renewal of the great colonizing project which
he had set on foot five years earlier and which
had been interrupted by the hostile activities
io THE ACADIAN^ EXILES
^ * iv\ \ u^>3> ^
of the Kirkes. 1 ^Richelieu appointed lieu-
tenant-general of^Acadia Isaac de Razillyl
one of the Company of One Hundred Assocft
ates and commander of the Order of Malta,
with authority to take over Acadia from the
Scots. jjRa^illy brought out with him three
hundredsettlers, recruited mainly from the
districts of Touraine and Brittany the first
considerable body of colonists to come to
the countryTJ He was a man of more than
ordinary aflmty, of keen insight and affable
manners. ' The commander, ' wrote Champlain,
' possessed all the qualities of a good, a per-
fect sea-captain ; prudent, wise, industrious ;
urged by the saintly motive of increasing the
glory of God and of exercising his energy in
New France in order to erect the cross of
Christ and plant the lilies of France therein/
He planned for Acadia on a large scale. He
endeavoured to persuade Louis XIII to main-
tain a fleet of twelve vessels for the service of
the colony, and promised to bring out good
settlers from year to year. Unfortunately,
his death occurred in 1635 before his dreams
could be realized. He had been given the
power to name his successor ; and on his
l See The Founder of New Franse, chap, v, and The Jesuit
Missions, chap. iv.
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA n
death-bed he appointed his cousin and com-
panion, Charles de Menou, Sieur d'Aulnay
Charnisay, adjuring him ' not to abandon the
country, but to pursue a task so gloriously
begun.'
Years of strife and confusion followed.
Razilly had made La Heve his headquarters ;
but Charnisay took up his at Port Royal. 1
This brought him into conflict with Charles de
la Tour, who had now established himself at
the mouth of the river St John, and whose
commission from the king, giving him juris-
diction over the whole of Acadia, had, appa-
rently, never been rescinded. The king, to
whom the dispute was referred, instructed that
an imaginary line should be drawn through
the Bay of Fundy to divide the territory of
Charnisay from that of La Tour. But this
arrangement did not prevent the rivalry
between the two feudal chiefs from develop-
ing into open warfare. In the struggle the
honours rested with Charnisay. Having first
undermined La Tour's influence at court, he
attacked and captured La Tour's Fort St
1 Charnisay built his fort about six miles farther up than the
original Port Royal, and on the opposite side of the river, at the
place thenceforth known as Port Royal until 1710, and since then
as Annapolis Royal or Annapolis.
12 THE ACADIAN EXILES
John. This happened in 1645. La Tour him-
self was absent ; but his wife, a woman of
heroic mould, made a most determined re-
sistance. 1 La Tour was impoverished and
driven into exile ; his remarkable wife died
soon afterwards ; and Charnisay remained
lord of all he surveyed. But Charnisay was
not long to enjoy his dominion. In May 1650
he was thrown by accident from his canoe into
the Annapolis river and died in consequence
of the exposure.
In the year following Charnisay's death
Charles de la Tour reappeared on the scene.
Armed with a new patent from the French
king, making him governor and lieutenant-
general of Acadia, he took possession of his
fort at the mouth of the St John, and further
strengthened his position by marrying the
widow of his old rival Charnisay. Three
years later (1654), when the country fell again
into the hands of the English, La Tour turned
to good account his previous relations with
them. He was permitted to retain his post,
and lived happily with his wife 2 at Fort St
1 This follows the story as told by Denys (see p. 18 note), which
has been generally accepted by historians. But Charnisay in an
elaborate memoir (M6moire Instruct//) gives a very different
version of this affair.
- They had five children, who married and settled in Acadia.
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA 13
John, so far as history records, until his death
in 1666.
By the Treaty of Breda in 1667 Acadia was
restored to France, and a period ensued of
unbroken French rule. The history of the
forty-three years from the Treaty of Breda
until the English finally took possession is first
a history of slow but peaceful development,
and latterly of raids and bloody strife in which
Drench and English and Indians were involved.
(In 1671 the population, according to a census
of that year, numbered less than four hundred
and fifty. This was presently increased by
sixty new colonists from France. By 1685
this population had more than doubled and
the tiny settlements appeared to be thriving..
But after 1690 war again racked the land.^f
During this period Acadia was under the
government of Quebec, but there was always
a local governor. The first of these, Hubert
de Grandfontaine, came out in 1670. He and
some of his successors were men of force and
ability ; but others, such as Brouillan, who
issued card money without authority and
applied torture to an unconvicted soldier, and
Many of their descendants may be counted among the Acadian
families living at the present time in Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick.
14 THE ACADIAN EXILES
Perrot, who sold liquor by the pint and the
half-pint in his own house, were unworthy
representatives of the crown.
By 1710 the population of Acadia had grown
W"about twenty-one hundred soujgjdistributed
chiefly in the districts of Port Royal, Minas,
and Chignecto. spftost of these were descended
from the settlersMwought over by Razilly and
Charnisay between 1633 and 16387 On the
whole, they were a strong, healtHyf virtuous
people, sincerely attached to their religion and
their traditions^ The most notable singu-
larity of their race was stubbornness, although
they could be led by kindness where they
could not be driven by force. Though in-
clined to litigation, they were not unwilling
to arbitrate their differences. They ' had
none who were bred mechanics ; every farmer
was his own architect and every man of pro-
perty a farmer/ ' The term Mister was un-
known among them.' - They took pride in
their appearance and wore most attractive
costumes, in which black and red colours pre-
dominated. Content with the product of
their labour and having few wants, they lived
in perfect equality and with extreme frugality.
In an age when learning was confined to the
few, they were not more illiterate than the
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA 15
corresponding class in other countries.!^ In
the summer the men were continuallyeni-
ployed in husbandry. ' They cultivated chiefly
the rich marsh-lands by the rivers and the sea,
building dikes along the banks and shores to
shut out the tide^s^and made little effort to
clear the woodlahxlsV * In the winter they
were engaged in cutting timber and wood for
fuel and fencing, and in hunting ; the women
in carding, spinning, and weaving wool, flax,
and hemp, of which their country furnished
abundance ; these, with furs from bears,
beavers, foxes, otters, and martens, gave them
not only comfortable, but in some cases hand-
some clothing/j Although they had large herds
of cattle, ' they never made any merchantable
butter, being used to set their milk in small
noggins which were kept in such order as to
turn it thick and sour in a short time, of which
they ate voraciously.' 1
f The lands which the Acadians reclaimed
rfom the sea and cultivated were fertile in the
extreme^ A description has come down to
us of ^vnat was doubtless a typical Acadian
garden. In it were quantities of ' very fine
well-headed cabbages and of all other sorts
of pot herbs and vegetables.' Apple and pear
1 Public Archives, Canada, Brown Collection, M 65ia, 171.
16 THE ACADIAN EXILES
trees brought from France flourished. The
peas were ' so covered with pods that it could
only be believed by seeing/ The wheat was
particularly good. We read of one piece of
land where ' each grain had produced six or
eight stems, and the smallest ear was half a
foot in length, filled with grain/ The streams
and rivers, too, teemed with fish. The noise
of salmon sporting in the rivers sounded like
the rush of a turbulent rapid, and a catch such
as ' ten men could not haul to land ' was often
made in a night. Pigeons were a plague,
alighting in vast flocks in the newly planted
gardens. |IF the economic progress of the
country ttktt been slow, the reason had lain,
not in any poverty of natural resources, but
in the scantiness of the population, the neglect
of the home government, the incessant turmoil
within, and the devastating raids of English
enemie&t'
^f
CHAPTER II
THE BRITISH IN ACADIA
|ALMOST from the first England had advanced
weteums, slender though they were, to the
ownership of Acadiajj And very early, as we
have seen, the cokflly had been subjected to
the scourge of English attacks.
Argajl's expedition had been. Jittlfi . more
than a buccaneeringrgxploit and an earnest
of what was to come4 Nor did any permanent
result, other than the substitution of the name
Nova Scotia for Acadlajflow from Sir William
Alexander's enterprise. Alexander, after-
wards Lord Stirling, was a Scottish courtier
in the entourage of James I, from whom he
obtained in 1621 a grant of the province of
New Scotland or Nova Scotia. A year later
he sent out a small body of farm hands and
one artisan, a blacksmith, to establish a'colony.
The expedition miscarried ; and another in
the next year shared a similar fate. A larger
company of Scots, ^ho^vej^a^ alredy. men-
A.B. B
i8 THE ACADIAN EXILES
tioned, settled at Port Royal in j6^J^ and
erected a fort, known as Scots Fort7 on the
site of the original settlement of De Monts.
This colony, with some reinforcements from
Scotland, stood its ground until the country
was ceded to France in 1632. On the arrival
of Razilly in that year most of the Scottish
settlers went home, and the few who remained
were soon merged in the French population.
For twenty-two years after this Acadia re-
mained French, under the feudal sway of its
overlords, Razilly, Charnisay, La Tour, and
icolas Denys, the historian of Acadia. 1 But
in 1654 the fleet of Robert Sedgwick suddenly
appeared off Port Royal and compelled its sur-
render in the name of Oliver Cromwell. Then
for thirteen years Acadia was nominally Eng-
lish. Sir Thomas Temple, the governor during
this period, tried to induce English-speaking
people to settle in the province, but with
small succesjjffi England's hold of Acadia was,
in fact, not very firnjTJ The son of Emmanuel
Le Borgne, who claimed the whole country
by right of a judgment he had obtained in
1 He wrote The Description and Natural History of the Coasts
of North America. An edition, translated and edited, with a
memoir of the author, by W. F. Ganong-, will be found in the
publications of the Champlain Society (Toronto, 1908).
THE BRITISH IN ACADIA 19
the French courts against Charnisay, appar-
ently found little difficulty in turning the
English garrison out of the fort at La Heve,
leaving his unfortunate victims without means
of return to New England, or of subsistence ;
but in such destitution that they were forced
' to live upon grass and to wade in the water
for lobsters to keep them alive.' Some amus-
ing correspondence followed between France
and England. The French ambassador in
London complained of the depredations com-
mitted in the house of a certain Monsieur de
la Heve. The English government, better in-
formed about Acadia, replied that it knew of
no violence committed in the house of M. de
la Heve. ' Neither is there any such man in
the land, but there is a place so called, which
Temple purchased for eight thousand pounds
from La Tour, where he built a house. But
one M. le Borny, two or three years since, by
force took it, so that the violence was on Le
~~^a>
Borny's part.'^Tne strife was ended, how-
ever, as already mentioned, by the Treaty of
Breda in 1667, in the return of Acadia to
France in exchange for the islands in the West
Indies of St Christopher, Antigua, and Mont-
Nearly a quarter of a century passed.
20 THE ACADIAN EXILES
France and England were at peace and Acadia
enjoyed ireedom from foreign attack. But
the accession of William of Orange to the
throne of England heralded the outbreak of
another Anglo-French war. The month of
May 1690 saw Sir William_Phij3s. with AJie w
England fleet and an army of over a thousand
men off Port Royal, demanding its surrender.
Menneval, the French governor, yielded fiis
fortress on the understanding that he and the
garrison should be transported to French
soil. ^Phips, however, after pillaging the place,
desecrating the church, hoisting the English
flag, and obliging the inhabitants to take
the oath of allegiance to William and Mary,
catried off his prisoners to Boston. He was
bent on the capture of Quebec in the same
year and had no mind to make the necessary
arrangements to hold Acadia. Hardly had
he departed when a relief expedition from
France, under the command of MennevaTs
brother Villebon, sailed into Port "Royal. But
as Villebon had no sufficient force to reoccupy
the fort, he pulled down the English flag, re-
placed it by that of France, and proceeded to
the river St John. After a conference with
the Indians there he went to Quebec, and
was present with Frontenac in October when
THE BRITISH IN ACADIA 21
Ehips appeared with his summons to sur-
render. 1 Villebon then went to France. A
year later he returned as governor of Acadia
and took up his quarters at Fort Jemseg,
about fifty miles up the St John river. Here
he organized war-parties of Indians to harry
the English settlements ; and the struggle con-
tinued, with raid and counter-raid, until 1697,
when the Treaty of Ryswick halted the war
between the two crowns.
The formal peace, however, was not for
long. ^Tn 1702 Queen Anne declared war
againsTTrance and Spain. And before peace
returned the final capture of Acadia had been
effected^ It was no fault of Subercase, the
French officer who in 1706 came to Port Royal
as governor, thatjjhe fortunes of war went
against him. In 1707 he beat off two violent
attacks of the English ; and if sufficient means
had been placed at his disposal, he might have
retained the colony for France. But the
ministry at Versailles, pressed on all sides,
had no money to spare f ojr^the succourjpf
Acadia. Subercase set forth with clearness
the resources of the colony, and urged strong
reasons in favour of its development. In 1708
a hundred soldiers came to his aid ; but as no
1 See The Fighting Governor in this Series, chap. vii.
22 THE ACADIAN EXILES
funds for their maintenance came with them,
they became a burden. The garrison was re-
duced almost to starvation ; and Subercase
was forced to replenish his stores by the cap-
ture of pirate vessels. The last letter he wrote
home was filled with anguish over the impend-
ing fate of Port Royal. His despair was not
without cause. In the spring of 1710 Queen
Anne placed Colonel Francis Nicholson, one
of her leading colonial officers, in command
of the troops intended for the recovery of
Nova Scotia. An army of about fifteen hun-
dred soldiers was raised in New England, and
-X. ~2L. British fleet gathered in Boston Harbour.
On October 5 (New Style) this expedition
arrived before Port Royal. The troops landed
and laid ..siege, once more to the much-harassed
capital of AcadiaJ The result wasaJoregone /
conclusion. Five day sTa^e> preliminary pro-
posals were exchanged between Nicholson and
Subercase. The starving inhabitants petitioned
Subercase to "give up. He held out, however,
till the cannonade of the enemy told him that
he must soon yield to force. He then sent an
officer to Nicholson to propose the terms of
capitulation. It was agreed that the garrison
should march out with the honours of war
and be transported to France in English ships,
THE BRITISH IN ACADIA 23
and that the inhabitants within three miles of
the fort should ' remain upon their estates,
with their corn, cattle, and furniture, during
two years, in case they are not desirous to
go before, they taking the oath of allegi-
ance and fidelity to Her Sacred Majesty of
Great Britain.' Then to the roll of the drum,
and with all the honours of war, the French
troops marchfed^Qut and the New Englanders
marched in. flTne British flag was raised, arid,
in honour of tne^queen of England, Port Royal
was named Annapolis Royal.j A banquet was
held in the fortress to ^Cfrorate the event,
and the French officers and their ladies were
invited to it to drink the health of Queen
Anne, while cannon on the bastions and cannon
on the ramparts thundered forth a royal salute.
The celebration over, Subercase sent an
envoy to Quebec, to inform Vaudreuil, the
governor of New France, of the fall of Port
Royal, and then embarked with his soldiers
for France. A few days later Nicholson took
awaymost of his troops and repaired to Boston,
leaving a garrison of four hundred and fifty
men and officers under the command of Colonel
Samuel Vetch to hold the newly- won post
until peace should return and Her Majesty's
pleasure concerning it be made known.
24 THE ACADIAN EXILES
As far as he was able, Vetch set up military
rule at Annapolis Royal. He administered
the oath of allegiance to the inhabitants of the
banlieue within three miles of the fort
according to the capitulation, and established
a court to try their disputes. Many and grave
difficulties faced the new governor and his
officers. The Indians were hostile, and, quite
naturally nffne state of war which prevailed,
emissaries of the French strove to keep the
Acadians unfriendly to their English masters.
Moreover, Vetch was badly in want of money.
The soldiers had ne proper clothing for the
winter ; they had not been paid for their
services ; the fort stood in need of repair ;
and the military chest was empty. He could
get no assistance from Boston or London, and
his only resource seemed, to be to levy on the
inhabitants in the old-fashioned way of con-
querors. The Acadians pleaded poverty, but
Vetch sent out armed men to enforce his order,
and succeeded in collecting at least a part of
the tribute he demanded, not only from the
inhabitants round the fort over whom he had
authority, but also from the settlers of Minas
and Chignecto, who were not included in the
capitulation.
The first winter passed, in some discomfort
THE BRITISH IN ACADIA 25
and privation, but without any serious mishap
to the English soldiers. With the month of
June, however, there came a disaster. The
Acadians had been directed to cut timber for
the repair of the fort and deliver it at Anna-
polis. They had complied for a time and
had then quit work, fearing, as they said,
attacks from the Indian allies of the French,
wnb threatened to kill them if they aided the
enemy. Thereupon Vetch ordered an officer
to take seventy-five men and go up the river
to the place where the timber was being felled
and ' inform the people that if they would
bring it down they would receive every im-
aginable protection,' but if they were averse
or delayed to do so he was to * threaten them
with severity.' * And let the soldiers make
a show of killing their hogs,' the order ran,
1 but do not kill any, and let them kill some
fowls, but pay for them before you come away.'
Armed with this somewhat peculiar military
order, the troops set out. But as they
ascended the river they were waylaid by a
war-party of French and Indians, and within
an hour every man of the seventy-five English
was either killed or taken captive.
Soon after this tragic affair Vetch went to
Boston to take a hand in an invasion of
2(5 THE ACADIAN EXILES
Canada which was planned for that summer.
This invasion was to take place by both sea
and land simultaneously. Vetch joined the
fleet of Sir Hovenden Walker, consisting of
some sixty vessels which sailed from Boston
in July. Meanwhile Colonel Nicholson stood
near Lake Champlain, with a force of several
thousand colonial troops and Six Nation
Indians, in readiness to advance on Canada to
co-operate with the fleet. But the fleet never
got within striking distance. Not far above
the island of Anticosti some of the ships ran
aground and were wrecked ^/ith a loss of
nearly a thousand men ; and the commander
gave up the undertaking and bore away for
England. When news of this mishap reached
Nicholson he retreated and disbanded his men.
But, though the ambitious enterprise ended
ingloriously, it was not wholly fruitless, for it
kept the French of Quebec on guard at home ;
while but for this menace they would probably
have sent a war-party in force to drive the
English out of Acadia.
; The situation of the English at Annapolis
was indeed critical. Their numbers had been
greatly reduced by disease and raids and the
men were in a sorry plight for lack of provi-
sions and clothing. Vetch could obtain neither
THE BRITISH IN ACADIA 27
men nor money from England or the colonies.
Help, however, of a sort did come in the
summer of 1712. This was in the form of a
band of Six Nation Indians, allies of the
English, from the colony of New York. 1 These
savages. pitched their habitations not far from
the fort, and thereafter the garrison suffered
less from the Micmac and Abnaki allies of
the French.
The Acadians were in revolt ; and as long
as they cherished the belief that their country-
men would recover Acadia, all attempts to
secure their allegiance tcrgueen Anne proved
unavailing. At length,im" April 1713, the
Treaty of Utrecht set at rest the question of
the ownership of the counti^nf Cape Breton,
He St Jean (Prince Edward Island), and other
islands in the Gulf j^ere left in the hands of
the French. But OfTewfoundland and ' all
Nova Scotia_or Acaoia, with its ancient boun-
daries, as also the city of Port Royal, now
called Annapolis Royal/ passed to the British
crown^
1 CollecUons of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. iv,
p. 41.
CHAPTER III
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE
WE have now to follow a sequence of events
leading up to the calamity to be narrated in
a later chapter. { By the Treaty of Utrecht
the old king, Louis XIV, had obtained certain
guarantees for his subjects in Acadia. It was
provided that * they may have liberty to re-
move themselves within a year to any other
place with all their movable effects'; and
that * those who are willing to remain therein
and to be subject to the kingdom of Britain
are to enjoy the free exercise of their religion/
And these terms were confirmed by a warrant
of Queen Anne addressed to^Nicholson, under
date of June 23, I7I3. 1 JThe status of the
1 * Trusty and Well-beloved, We greet you Well ! Whereas
Our Good Brother the Most Christian King hath at Our desire
released from imprisonment on board His Galleys, such of His
subjects as were detained there on account of their professing
the Protestant religion, We being willing to show by some
mark of Our Favour towards His subjects how kindly we take
His compliance therein, have therefore thought fit hereby to
Signifie Our Will and Pleasure to you that you permit and allow
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 31
Acadians under the treaty, reinforced by this
warrant, seems to be sufficiently clear. If
they wished to become British subjects, which
of course implied taking the oath of allegiance,
they were to enjoy all the privileges of citizen-
shi^pot accorded, at that time to Catholics
in Great Britain^ajsjivell as the free exercise
of their religionTTTBut if they preferred to
remove to another country within a year,
they were to have that libertyf\
The French authorities were^Tiot slow to
take advantage of tfris part of the treaty. In
order to hold her position in the New World
and assert her authority, France had trans-
ferred the garrison which she had formerly
maintained at Placentia, Newfoundland, to
Cape Breton. This island she had renamed
lie Royale, and here she was shortly to rear
such of them as have any lands or Tenements in the Places
under your Government in Acadie and Newfoundland, that have
been or are to be yielded to Us by Vertue of the late Treaty of
Peace, and are Willing to Continue our Subjects to retain and
Enjoy their said Lands and Tenements without any Lett or
Molestation as fully and freely as other our Subjects do or may
possess their Lands and Estates or to sell the same if they shall
rather Chuse to remove elsewhere And for so doing this shall
be your Warrant, And so we bid you fare well. Given at our
Court at Kensington the 2yd day of June 1713 in. the Twelfth
Year of our Reign.' Public Archives, Canada. Noun Scotia A,
vol. iv, p. 97.
THE ACADIAN EXILES
the great fortress of Louisbourg. It was to
her interest to induce the Acadians to renmve
to this new centre of French influence. In
March 1713, therefore, the French king inti-
mated his wish that^tfie Acadians should
emigrate to He Royale^ every inducement,
indeed, must be offerecTniem to settle there ;
though he cautioned his officers that if any
of the Acadians had already taken the oath
of allegiance to Great Britain, great care must
he exercised to avoid scandal.
tjMany Acadians, then, on receiving attrac-
tive offers of land in He Royale, applied to the
English authorities for permission to depart.
The permission was not granted*J It was first
refused by Governor Vetch on the ground
that he was retiring from office and was acting
only in the absence of Colonel Nicholson.^ho
had been recently appointed governor. (jThe
truth is that the English regarded with alarm
the removal of practically the entire popula-
tion from Nova Scotfa. ] The governor of He
Royale intervened, ana sent agents to Anna-
polis Royal to make a formal demand on
behalf of the Acadians, presenting in sup-
port of his demand the warrant of Queen
Anne. The inhabitants, it was said, wished
to leave Nova Scotia and settle in He
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 31
Royale, and * they expect ships to convey
themselves and effects accordingly/ Nichol-
son, who had now arrived as governor, took
the position that he must refer the question
to England for the consideration of Her
Majesty.
When the demand of the governor of He
Royale reached England, Vetch was in
London ; and Vetch had financial interests
in Nova Scotia. He at once appealed to the
Lords of Trade, who in due course protested
to the sovereign ' that this would strip Nova
Scotia and greatly strengthen Cape Breton.'
Time passed, however, and the government
made no pronouncement on the question.
Meanwhile Queen Anne had died. Matters
drifted. The Acadians wished to leave, but
were not allowed to employ British vessels.
In despair they began to construct small
r*"~ ^- _ _^ * _^ -^ .
boats on tfieif own account, to carry their
families and effects to He Royale. These
boats, however, were seized by order of
Nicholson, and the Acadians were explicitly
forbidden to remove or to dispose of their
possessions until a decision with regard to the
question should arrive from England.
In January 1715 the accession of George I
was proclaimed throughout Acadia. But when
32 THE ACADIAN EXILES
the Acadians were required to swear allegiance
to the new monarch, they proved obdurate.
They agreed not to do anything against His
Britannic Majesty as long as they remained in
Acadia ; but they refused to take the oath
on the plea that they had already pledged
their word to migrate to He Royale. John
Doucette, who arrived in the colony in October
1717 as lieutenant-governor, was informed
by the Acadians that * the French inhabitants
had never own'd His Majesty as Possessor
of this His Continent of Nova Scotia and
L'Acadie.' When Doucette presented a paper
for them to sign, promising them the same
protection and liberty as the rest of His
Majesty's subjects in Acadia, they brought
forward a document of their own, which evi-
dently bore the marks of honest toil, since
Doucette ' would have been glad to have sent '
it to the secretary of state * in a cleaner manner.'
"In it they declared, ' We shall be ready
to carry into effect the demand proposed to
us, as soon as His Majesty shall have done us
the favour of providing some means of shelter-
ing us from the savage tribes, who are always
ready to do all kinds of mischief. ... In case
other means cannot be found, we are ready to
take an oath, that we will take up arms neither
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 33
against His Britannic Majesty, nor against
France, nor against any of their subjects or
allies/ !
.The attitude of both France and England
towards the unfortunate Acadians was thor-
oughly selfish. The French at Louisbourg,
after their first attempt to bring the Acadians
to He Royale, relapsed into inaction. They
still hoped doubtless that Acadia would be
restored to France, and while they would
have been glad to welcome the Acadians, they
perceived the advantage of keeping them
under French influence in British territory.
In order to do this they had at their hand
convenient means. The guarantee to the
Acadians of the freedom of their religion had
entailed the presence in Acadia of French
priests not British subjects, who were paid j
by the French government and were under
the direction of the bishop of Quebec. These
priests were, of course, loyal to France and
inimical to Great Britain. Another source of
influence possessed by the French lay in their
alliance with the Indian tribes, an alliance
which the missionary priests helped to hold
firm. The fear of an Indian attack was
1 Public Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia A, vol. viii, p. 181
et seq.
A.E. C
34 THE ACADIAN EXILES
destined on more than one occasion to keep
the Acadians loyal to France. On the other
hand, the British, while loth to let the
Acadians depart, did little to improve their
lot. It was a period of great economy in
English colonial administration. Walpole, in
his desire to~reduce taxation, devoted very
little money to colonial development ; and
funds were doled out to the authorities at
Annapolis in the most parsimonious manner.
' It is a pity/ wrote Newton, the collector of
the customs at Annapolis and Canso, in 1719,
that ' so fine a province as Nova Scotia should
lie so long neglected. As for furs, feathers,
and a fishery, we may challenge any province
'in America to produce the like, and beside
that here is a good grainery ; masting and
naval stores might be provided hence. And
was here a good establishment fixt our returns
would be very advantageous to the Crown
and Great Britain. 1 As it was, the British
ministers were content to send out elaborate
instructions for the preservation of forests,
the encouragement of fisheries and the
prevention of foreign trade, without pro-
viding either means for carrying out the
schemes, or troops for the protection of the
country.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 35
Nothing further was done regarding the oath J
of allegiance until the arrival of Governor
Philipps in 1720, when the Acadians were
called upon to take the oath or leave the
country within four months, taking with them
only two sheep per family. This, it seems,
was merely an attempt to intimidate the
people into taking the oath, for when the
Acadians, having no boats at their disposal,
proposed to travel by land, and began to cut
out a road for the passage of vehicles, they
were stopped in the midst of their labours by
order of the governor. _ -^
In a letter to England Philipps expressed
the opinion that the Acadians, if left alone,
would no doubt become contented British
subjects, that their emigration at this time
would be a distinct lojsjtojthej^Lr-r^g^") which
was supplied by their labours. He added
that the French were active in maintaining
their influence over them. One potent factor
in keeping them restless was the circulation
of reports that the English would not much
Jpnger tolerate CatholicismJ_The Lords of
Trade took this letter into consideration, and
in their reply of December 28, 1720, we find
the proposal to remove the Acadians as a
1 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xi, p. 186.
36 THE ACADIAN EXILES
means of settling the problem. 1 This, how-
ever, was not the first mooting of the idea.
During the same year Paul Mascarejie^ in ' A
Description of Nova Scbtia, r had given two
reasons for the expulsion of the inhabitants :
first, that they were Roman Catholics, under
the full control of French priests opposed to
British interests ; secondly, that they con-
tinually incited the Indians to do mischief or
disturb English settlements. On the other
hand, Mascarene discovered two motives for
retaining them : first, in order that they
might not strengthen the French establish-
ments ; secondly, that they might be em-
ployed in furnishing supplies for the garrison
and in preparing fortifications until such time
1 ' As to the French inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who appear
so wavering in their inclinations, we are apprehensive they will
never become good subjects to His Majesty whilst the French
Governors and their Priests retain so great an influence over
them, for which reason we are of opinion, that they ought to be
removed so soon as the forces which we have proposed to be
sent to you shall arrive in Nova Scotia for the protection and
better settlement of your Province, but as you are not to attempt
their removal without His Majesty's positive orders for that
purpose, you will do well in the meanwhile to continue the same
prudent and cautious conduct towards them, to endeavour to
undeceive them concerning the exercise of their religion, which
will doubtless be allowed them if it should be thought proper
to let them stay where they are.' Public Archives, Canada.
Nova Scotia A, vol. xii, p. 210.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 37
as the English were strong enough to do
without them. 1
It does not appear that either the English
or the French government had any paternal
affection for the poor Acadians ; but each was
fully conscious of the use to which they might
be put.
In a letter to the Lords of Trade Philipps
sums up the situation. * The Acadians,' he
says, ' decline to take the oath of allegiance
on two grounds that in General Nicholson's
time they had signed an obligation to con-
tinue subjects of France and retire to Cape
Breton, and that the Indians would cut their
throats if they became Englishmen.'
If they are permitted [he continues] to
remain upon the footing they propose, it is
very probable they will be obedient to
government as long as the two Crowns con-
tinue in alliance, but in case of a rupture
will be so many enemies in our bosom, and
I cannot see any hopes, or likelihood, of
making them English, unless it was possible
to procure these Priests to be recalled who
are tooth and nail against the Regent ; not
1 'A Description of Nova Scotia,' by Paul Mascarene, trans-
mitted to the Lords of Trade by Governor Philipps. Public
Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia A, vol. xii, p. 1x8.
38 THE ACADIAN EXILES
sticking to say openly that it is his day
now, but will be theirs anon ; and having
others sent in their stead, which (if any-
thing) may contribute in a little time to
make some change in their sentiments.
He further suggests an ' oath of obliging the
Acadians to live peaceably/ to take up arms
against the Indians, but not against the
French, to acknowledge the king's right to
the country, to obey the government, and to.
hold their lands of the king by a new tenure,
' instead of holding them (as at present) from
lords of manors who are now at Cape Breton,
jwhere at this day they pay their rent/ l
There were signs that the situation was not
^ entirely hopeless. The Acadians were not
allowed to leave the country, or even to settle
down to the enjoyment of their homes ; they
were employed in supplying the needs of the
troops, or in strengthening the British fortifi-
cations ; yet they seem to have patiently
accepted the inevitable. The Indians com-
mitted acts of violence, but^he Acadians re-
mained peaceable. There was, too, a certain
amount of intermarriage between Acadian
girls and the British soldiers. In those early
1 Public Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia A, vol. xii, p. 96.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 39
days of Nova Scotia, girls of a marriageable
age were few and were much sought after.
There was in Annapolis an old French gentle-
woman ' whose daughters, granddaughters,
and other relatives ' had married British
officers. These ladies soon acquired consider-
able influence and were allowed to do much
as they pleased. ) The old gentlewoman, Marie
Magdalen Maisonat, who had married Mr
William Winniett, a leading merchant and one
of the first British inhabitants of Annapolis,
became all-powerful in the town, not only
on account of her own estimable qualities,
but also on account of the position held by
her daughters and granddaughters. Soldiers
arrested for breach of discipline often pleaded
that they had been 'sent for to finish a job
of work for Madame ' ; and this excuse was
usually sufficient to secure an acquittal. If
not, the old lady would on her own authority
order the culprit 's release, and ' no further
enquiry was made into the matter.' One
British officer, who had incurred her displea-
sure, was told that * Me have rendered King
Shorge more important service dan ever you
did or peut-etre ever shall, and dis is well
known to peoples en autoritej which may
have been true if, as was asserted, she some-
40 THE ACADIAN EXILES
times presided at councils of war in the
fort. 1
It was with the Indians, rather than with
the Acadians, that the authorities had the
greatest trouble. After several hostile acts
had been committed, the governor deter-
mined to try the effect of the gentle art of
persuasion. He sent to England an agent
named Bannfield to purchase a large quantity
of presents for the Indians. Bannfield was
thoroughly dishonest, and appropriated two-
thirds of the money to his own use, expending
the remainder on the purchase of articles of
'exceeding bad quality.' A gorgeous enter-
tainment was prepared for the savages, and
the presents were given to them. The^ Indians
took away the presents, but their missionaries
had little difficulty in showing them the in-
feriority of the English gifts ; and Philipps
noted that they did not appear satisfied.
' They will take all we give them,' he wrote,
' and cut our throats next day.' At length
the Indians boldly declared war against the
British, an action which Philipps attributed
to the scandalous conduct of the agent Bann-
1 Knox, An Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North
America. Edited, etc., by A. G. Doughty. Vol. i, pp. 94-6.
(Toronto : The Champlain Society, 1914.)
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 41
field. At the instigation of the French of He
Royale, they kept up hostilities for two years
and committed many barbarities. The Mic-
macs seized fishing smacks, and killed and
scalped a number of English soldiers and
fishermen. It was not until a more attractive
supply of presents arrived, and were distri-
buted among the chiefs, that they could be
induced to make peace.
During the progress of the Indian- war
Governor Philipps had prudently refrained
from discussing with the.Acadians i the .question
of the oath ] but in 1726 Lawrence Armstrong^
the lieutenant-governor, resolved"tcrfaEe up
the matter again. In the district of Anna-
polis he had little trouble. The inhabitants
there consented, after some discussion, to sign
a declaration of allegiance, with a clause
exempting them from the obligation of taking
up arms. 1 But to deal with the Acadians of
Minas and of Beaubassin on Chignecto Bay
proved more difficult. Certain ' anti-mon-
archical traders ' from Boston and evil-inten-
tioned French inhabitants had represented in
these districts that the governor had no
authority in the land, and no power to ad-
1 This oath applied only to the inhabitants of the district of
Annapolis.
42 THE ACADIAN EXILES
minister oaths. No oath would these Acadians
take but to their own Bon Roy de France.
They promised, however, to pay all the rights
and dues which the British demanded.
The death of George I in 1727, and the acces-
sion of George II, made it necessary for the
Acadians to acknowledge the new monarch.
This time the lieutenant-governor was deter-
mined to do the business in a thorough and
comprehensive manner. He chartered a vessel
at a cost of a hundred pounds, and commis-
sioned Ensign Wroth to proceed from place
to place at the head of a detachment of troops
proclaiming the new king and obtaining the
submission of the people. Wroth was emi-
nently successful in proclaiming His Majesty ;
but he had less success in regard to the oath.
Finding the Acadians obdurate, he promised
them on his own authority freedom in the
exercise of their religion, exemption from bear-
ing arms, and liberty to withdraw from the
province at any time. These * unwarrantable
concessions ' Armstrong refused to ratify ; and
the Council immediately declared them null
and void, although they resolved that * the
inhabitants . . . having signed and proclaimed
His Majesty and thereby acknowledged his
title and authority to and over this Province,
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 43
shall have the liberties and privileges of Eng-
lish subjects/ 1 This was all the Acadians
wished for.
The commission of Ensign Wroth did not
extend to the district of Annapolis, which was
dealt with by the Council. The deputies of
the Acadians there were summoned to appear
before the Council on September 6, 1727.
But the inhabitants, instead of answering the
summons, called a meeting on their own
account and passed a resolution, signed by
seventy-one of their people, which they for-
warded to the Council. In this document they
offered to take the oath on the conditions
offered by Wroth. This the Council considered
' insolent and defiant/ and ordered the arrest
of the deputies. On September 16 Charles
Landry, Guillaume Bourgois, Abraham Bourg,
and Francois Richard were brought before the
Council, and, on refusing to take the oath
except on the terms proposed by themselves,
were committed to prison for contempt and
disrespect to His Majesty. Next day the lieu-
tenant-governor announced that ' they had
been guilty of several enormous crimes in
assembling the inhabitants in a riotous manner
contrary to the orders of government both as
1 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. i, p. 177.
44 THE ACADIAN EXILES
to time and place and likewise in framing a
rebellious paper.' It was then resolved :
' That Charles Landry, Guillaume Bourgois
and Francis Richard, for their said offence,
and likewise for refusing the oath of fidelity
to His Majesty which was duly tendered them,
be remanded to prison, laid in irons, and there
remain until His Majesty's pleasure shall be
made known concerning them, and that
Abraham Bourg, in consideration of his great
age, shall have leave to retire out of this His
Majesty's Province, according to his desire
and promise, by the first opportunity, leaving
his effects behind him. 1 1 The rest of the in-
habitants were to be debarred from fishing on
the British coasts. It is difficult to reconcile
the actions of the Council. The inhabitants
who cheerfully subscribed to the oath, with
the exceptions made by Ensign Wroth, were
to be accorded the privileges of British sub-
jects, while some of those who would have
been glad to accept the same terms were laid
in irons, and the others debarred from fishing,
their main support.
Shortly after this Philipps was compelled
to return to Nova Scotia in order to restore
tranquillity ; for his lieutenant Armstrong,
1 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. i, p. 159.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 45
a man of quick temper, had fallen foul of the
French priests, especially the Abbe Breslay,
whom he had caused to be handled somewhat
roughly. Armstrong, seeking an alliance with
the Abnakis, had been foiled by the French
and had laid the blame at the door of the
priest, demanding the keys of the church and
causing the presbytery to be pillaged. In the
end Breslay had escaped in fear of his life.
It was his complaints, set forth in a memorial
to the government, that had brought about
Philipps's return. The Acadians, with whom
Philipps was popular, welcomed him in a
public manner ; and Philipps took advan-
tage of the occasion to approach them again
on the subject of the oath. He restored the
Abbe Breslay to his flock, promised the people
freedom in religious matters, and assured them /
that they would not be required to take up j
arms. Then all the Acadians in the district
of Annapolis subscribed to the following oath : /
I promise and swear on the faith of a Christian
that I will be truly faithful and will submit
myself to His Majesty King George the Second,
whom I acknowledge as the lord and sovereign
of Nova Scotia or Acadia. So help me God.
In the spring of 1728 Philipps obtained also
the submission of the inhabitants of the other
,46 THE ACADIAN EXILES
districts, on similar terms ; and even the
Indians professed a willingness to submit.
This was a triumph for the administration of
Philipps, and laid at rest for a time the vexed
question of the oath. The triumph was,
however, more superficial than real, as we
shall see by and by.
CHAPTER IV
IN TIMES OF WAR
WHEN Philipps had set at rest the question
of the oath of allegiance, he returned to
England, and Armstrong, less pacific than
his chief, again assumed the administration,
and again had some trouble with the priests.
Two Acadian missionaries had been expelled
from the country for want of respect to the
governor ; and Armstrong informed the in-
habitants that in future he must be consulted
regarding the appointment of ecclesiastics,
and that men from Quebec would not be
acceptable. Erouillan, the governor of He
Royale, had taken the ground that the
Acadian priests, not being subjects of Great
Britain, were not amenable to the British
authorities. This view was held by the priests
themselves. The president of the Navy
Board at Paris, however, rebuked Brouillan,
and informed him that the priests in Acadia
should by word and example teach the obedi-
ence due to His Britannic Majesty. This pro-
47
48 THE ACADIAN EXILES
nouncement cleared the air ; the disagree-
ments with the missionaries were soon ad-
justed ; and one of them, St Poncy, after
being warned to cultivate the goodwill of the
governor, was permitted to resume his pastoral
duties at Annapolis Royal.
On the death of Armstrong, on December 6,
1739, from wounds supposed to have been in-
flicted by his own hand, John Adams was
appointed lieutenant-governor and president
of the Council. In the following spring, how-
ever, Adams was displaced by a vote of the
Council in favour of Major Paul Mascarene.
* The Secretary came to my House,' wrote
Adams to the Duke of Newcastle, * and re-
ported to me the judgment of the Council in
favour of Major Mascarene, from whose judg-
ment I appealed to His Majesty and said if
you have done well by the House of Jerubable
[Jerubbaal] then rejoice ye in Abimelech and
let Abimelech rejoice in you.' l After this
lucid appeal, Adams, who had deep religious
convictions, retired to Boston and bemoaned
the unrighteousness of Annapolis. 2
1 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxv, p. 9.
a Writing from Boston to the Lords of Trade, Adams said :
'I would have returned to Annapolis before now. But there
was no Chaplain in the Garrison to administer God's word
and sacrament to the people. But the Officers and Soldiers in
IN TIMES OF WAR 49
It was under Mascarene's administration
that Nova Scotia passed through the period
of warfare which now supervened. For some
time relations between France and England
had been growing strained in the New World,
owing chiefly to the fact that the Peace of
Utrecht had left unsettled the perilous ques-
tion of boundary between the rival powers.
There was the greatest confusion as to the
boundaries of Nova Scotia or Acadia. The
treaty had given Great Britain the province of
Acadia ' with its ancient boundaries.' The
' ancient boundaries/ Great Britain claimed,
included the whole mainland of the present
maritime provinces and the Gaspe peninsula ;
whereas France contended that they embraced
only the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Both
powers, therefore, claimed the country north
of the isthmus of Chignecto, and the defini-
tion of the boundary became a more and more
pressing question.
Garrison have Prophaned the Holy Sacrament of Baptism and
Ministeriall Function, by presuming to Baptize their own chil-
dren. Why His Majesty's Chaplain does not come to his Duty
I know not, but am persuaded it is a Disservice and Dishonour
to our Religion and Nation ; and as I have heard, some have got
their children Baptized by the Popish Priest, for there has been
no Chaplain here for above these four years.' Public Archives,
Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxv, p. 176.
A.E.
SO THE ACADIAN EXILES
The outbreak of the war of the Austrian
Succession in Europe in 1741 set the match to
the fuse. By 1744 the French and English on
the Atlantic seaboard were up in arms. The
governor of He Royale lost no time in attack-
ing Nova Scotia. He invaded the settle-
ments at Canso with about five hundred men ;
and presently a band of Indians, apparently
led by the Abbe Le Loutre, missionary to the
Micmacs, marched against Annapolis Royal.
Towards these aggressions the Acadians as-
sumed an attitude of strict neutrality. On
the approach of Le Loutre's Micmacs they
went to their homes, refusing to take part in
the affair. Then when the raiders withdrew,
on the arrival of reinforcements from Boston,
the Acadians returned to their work on the
fort. During the same year, when Du Vivier
with a considerable French force appeared
before Annapolis, _the Acadians aided him
with provisions. But when the French troops
desired to winter at Chignecto, the Acadians
objected and persuaded them to leave, which
' made their conduct appear to have been
on this occasion far better than could have
been expected from them.' 1 Once more the
Acadians resumed their work on the fortifica-
1 Nova Scotia Documents, p. 147.
IN TIMES OF WAR 51
tions and supplied the garrison with provi-
sions. They frankly admitted giving assist-
ance to the French, but produced an order
from the Sieur du Vivier threatening them
with punishment at the hands of the Indians
if they refused.
In May of the following year (i745) a_party
of Canadians and Indians, junder the jraider
Marin, invested Annapolis. Again the Aca^jans
refused to take up arms and again assisted
the invaders with supplies. By the end oTtfie
month, however, Mariri and his raiders had
vanished and the garrison at Annapolis saw
them no more. They had been urgently sum-
moned by the governor of He Royale to come
to his assistance, for Louisbourg was even
then in dire peril. An army of New Englanders
under Pepperrell, supported by a squadron of
the British Navy under Warren, had in fact
laid siege to the fortress in the same month. 1
But Mann's raiders could render no effective
service. On the forty-ninth day of the siege
Louisbourg surrendered to the English, 2 and
1 See The Great Fortress in this Series, chap. ii.
. 2 June 17, Old Style, June 28, New Style, 1745. The English
at this time still used the Old Style Julian calendar, while the
French used the Gregorian, New Style. Hence some of the
disagreement in respect to dates which we find in the various
accounts of this period.
52 THE ACADIAN EXILES
shortly afterwards the entire French popula-
tion, civil and military, among them many
Acadians, were transported to France.
The fall of Louisbourg and the removal of
the inhabitants alarmed the French authorities,
who now entertained fears for the safety of
Canada and determined to take steps for the
recapture of the lost stronghold, and with it
the whole of Acadia, in the following year.
Accordingly, a formidable fleet, under the
command of the Due d'Anville, sailed from
La Rochelle in June 1746 ; while the governor
of Quebec sent a strong detachment of fight-
ing Canadians under Ramesay to assist in the
intended siege. But disaster after disaster
overtook the fleet. A violent tempest scat-
tered the ships in mid-ocean and an epidemic
carried off hundreds of seamen and soldiers.
In the autumn the commander, with a remnant
of his ships, arrived in Chebucto Bay (Halifax),
where he himself died. The battered ships
finally put back to France, and nothing came
of the enterprise. 1 Meanwhile, rumours having
reached Quebec of a projected invasion of
Canada by New England troops, the governor
Beauharnois had recalled Ramesay's Cana-
dians for the defence of Quebec ; but on hear-
1 See The Great Fortress, chap. iii.
IN TIMES OF WAR S3
ing that the French ships had arrived in
Chebucto Bay, and expecting them to attack
Annapolis, Ramesay marched his forces into
the heart of Acadia in order to be on hand to
support the fleet. Then, when the failure of
the fleet became apparent, he retired to Beau-
bassin at the head of Chignecto Bay, and pro-
ceeded to fortify the neck of the peninsula,
building a fort at Baie Verte on the eastern
shore. He was joined by a considerable band
of Malecites and Micmacs under the Abbe Le
Loutre ; and emissaries were sent out among
the Acadians as far as Minas to persuade
them to take up arms on the side of the
French.
William Shirley, the governor of Massa-
chusetts, who exercised supervision over the
affairs of Nova Scotia, seeing in this a real
menace to British power in the colony, raised
a thousand New Englanders and dispatched
them to Annapolis. Of these only four hun-
dred and seventy, under Colonel Arthur Noble
of Massachusetts, arrived at their destination.
Most of the vessels carrying the others were
wrecked by storms ; one was driven back by
a French warship. In December, however,
Noble's New Englanders, with a few soldiers
from the Annapolis garrison, set out to rid
54 THE ACADIAN EXILES
Acadia of the Canadians ; and after much
hardship and toil finally reached the village
of Grand Pre in the district of Minas. Here
the soldiers were quartered in the houses of
the Acadians for the winter, for Noble had
decided to postpone the movement against
Ramesay's position on the isthmus until
spring. It would be impossible, he thought,
to make the march through the snow.
But the warlike Canadians whom Ramesay
had posted in the neck of land between Chig-
necto Bay and Baie Verte did not think so.
No sooner had they learned of Noble's posi-
tion at Grand Pre than they resolved to sur-
prise him by a forced march and an attack by
night. Friendly Acadians warned the British
of the intended surprise ; but the over-con-
fident Noble scouted the idea. The snow in
many places was * twelve to sixteen feet deep, 1
and no party, even of Canadians, thought
Noble, could possibly make a hundred miles
of forest in such a winter. So it came to pass
that one midnight, early in February, Noble's
men in Grand Pre found themselves sur-
rounded. After a plucky fight in which sixty
English were killed, among them Colonel
Noble, and seventy more wounded, Captain
Benjamin Goldthwaite, who had assumed the
IN TIMES OF WAR 55
command, surrendered. The enemies then,
to all appearances, became the best of friends.
The victorious Canadians sat down to eat and
drink with the defeated New Englanders, who
made, says Beaujeu, one of the Canadian
officers, ' many compliments on our polite
manners and our skill in making war/ The
English prisoners were allowed to return to
Annapolis with the honours of war, while
their sick and wounded were cared for by
the victors. This generosity Mascarene after-
wards gratefully acknowledged.
When the Canadians returned to Chignecto
with the report of their victory over the
British, Ramesay issued a proclamation to
the inhabitants of Grand Pre setting forth
that ' by virtue of conquest they now owed
allegiance to the King of France/ and warn-
ing them ' to hold no communication with the
inhabitants of Port Royal/ This proclama-
tion, however, had little effect. With few
exceptions the Acadians maintained their
former attitude and refused to bear arms,
even on behalf of France and in the presence
of French troops. ' There were,' says Mas-
carene, 'in the last action some of those in-
habitants, but none of any account belonging
to this province. . . . The generality of the
56 THE ACADIAN EXILES
inhabitants of this province possess still the
same fidelity they have done before, in which
I endeavour to encourage them/
Quite naturally, however, there was some
unrest among the Acadians. After the cap-
ture of Louisbourg in 1745 the British had
transported all the inhabitants of that place
to France ; and rumours were afloat of an
expedition for the conquest of Canada and
that the Acadians were to share a similar
fate. This being made known to the British
ministry, the Duke of Newcastle wrote to
Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, instruct-
ing him to issue a proclamation assuring the
Acadians ' that there is not the least founda-
tion for any apprehension of that nature : but
that on the contrary it is His Majesty's resolu-
tion to protect and maintain all such of them
as shall continue in their duty and allegiance
to His Majesty in the quiet and peaceable
possession of their habitations and settle-
ments and that they shall continue to enjoy
the free exercise of their religion.' 1
Shirley proceeded to give effect to this order.
He issued a proclamation informing the in-
habitants of the intention of the king towards
1 Newcastle to Shirley, May 30, 1747. Canadian Archives
Report, 1905, Appendix C, vol. ii, p. 47.
IN TIMES OF WAR 57
them ; omitting, however, that clause relating
to their religion, a clause all-important to
them. The document was printed at Boston
in French, and sent to Mascarene to be distri-
buted. Mascarene thought at the time that
it produced a good effect. Shirley's instruc-
tions were clear ; but in explanation of his
omission he represented that such a promise
might cause inconvenience, as it was desirable
to wean the Acadians from their attachment
to the French and the influence of the bishop
of Quebec. He contended, moreover, that the
Treaty of Utrecht did not guarantee the free
exercise of religion. In view of this explana-
tion, 1 Shirley's action was approved by the
king.
In Shirley's proclamation several persons
were indicted for high treason, 2 and a reward
of 50 was offered for the capture of any one
offender named. These, apparently, were the
only pronounced rebels in the province. There
were more sputterings in Acadia of the re-
lentless war that raged between New France
and New England. Shirley had sent another
detachment of troops in April to reoccupy
Grand Pre ; and the governor of Quebec had
1 Bedford to Shirley, May 10, 1748.
2 Canadian Archives Report. 1905, Appendix C, vol. ii, p. 48.
58 THE ACADIAN EXILES
sent another war-party. But in the next
year (1748) the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle,
by which He Royale (Cape Breton) and
He St Jean (Prince Edward Island) were
restored to France, brought hostilities to a
pause.
CHAPTER V
CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS
I IN Nova ScotiajEngland was weak from the
kact that no settlements of her own people had
been established there. After thirty vears of
British ruljjMascarene had written, ,There is
no number of English inhabitants settled in
this province worth mentioning^ except the
five companies here [at Annapolisf and four at
Canso.' Now the restoration to France of
Cape Breton with the fortress of Louisbourg
exposed Nova Scotia to attack ; and in time
of war with France the Acadians would be a
^gource of weakness rather than of strength.
Vjreat Britain, therefore, resolved to try the
experiment of forming in Nova Scotia a colony
other own sons! 1 ^ CV^u^
f hus it came-4o pass that a fleet of trans-
ports carrying over twenty-five hundred colon-
ists, counting women and chilcirenjf escorted
by a sloop-of-w^7Tast anchor in Chebucto
Bayjnjfuly 174^ ihis expedition was com-
V 59
60 THE ACADIAN EXILES
manded by Edward Cornwallis, the newly
appointed governor and captain-general of
Nova Scotia. He was a young officer of
thirty-six, twin-brother of the Rev. Frederick
Cornwallis, afterwards Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and uncle of the more famous Lord
Cornwallis who surrendered at Yorktown
thirty-two years later. jTWith the colonists
came many officers ancTHisbanded soldiers/
came, also, the soldiers of the garrison wmcii
had occupied Louisbourg before the peace ;
for the new settlement, named Halifax in
honour of the president of the Lords of Trade,
was to be a military stronghold, as well as a
naval base, and the seat of government for
the province.
While Cornwallis and his colonists laid the
foundations of Halifax, cleared the land,
formed the streets, put up their dwellings and
defences, and organized their government, the
home authorities took up the problem of
securing more settlers for Nova Scotia. Corn-
wallis had been instructed to prepare for
settlements at Minas, La Heve, Whitehead,
and Baie Verte, the intention being that the
newcomers should eventually absorb the
Acadians living at these places. It had been
suggested to the Lords of Trade, probably by
CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS 6.
T#hn Dick, a merchant of Rotterdam, that
V tjie most effective means to this end would be
Ho introduce a large French Protestant element
into Nova Scotia. The government thereupon
gave instructions that the land should be
surveyed and plans prepared dividing the
territory into alternate Protestant and Catho-
lic sectionsTy^nirough intercourse and inter-
marriage with neighbours speaking their own
tongue, it was fondly hoped that the Acadians,
in coujsfipOf time, would become loyal British
subjectsj The next step was to secure French
Protesfant emigrants. In December 1749 the
Lords of Trade entered into a contract with
John Dick to transport ' not more than fifteen
hundred foreign Protestants to Nova Scotia.' 1
Dick was a man of energy and resource and,
in business methods, somewhat in advance of
his age. He appears to have understood the
value of advertising, judging from the hand-
bills which he circulated in France and from
his advertisements in the newspapers. But
as time passed emigrants in anything like the
numbers expected were not forthcoming. Evil
reports concerning Nova Scotia had been cir-
culated in France, and other difficulties arose.
After many delays, however, two hundred and
1 Public Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia A, vol. xxxv, p. 189.
6 2 THE ACADIAN EXILES
eighty persons recruited by Dick arrived at
Halifax. The character of some gave rise to
complaint, and Dick was cautioned by the
government. His troubles in France crept on
apace. It began to be rumoured that the
emigrants were being enrolled in the Halifax
militia ; and, France being no longer a profit-
able field, Dick transferred his activities to
Germany. Alluring handbills in the German
tongue were circulated, and in the end a con-
siderable number of Teutons arrived at Hali-
fax. Most of these were afterwards settled at
Lunenburg. The enterprise, of course, failed
of its object to neutralize and eventually assimi-
late the Acadian Catholic population ; never-
theless several thousand excellent ' foreign
Protestant ' settlers reached Nova Scotia
through various channels. They were given
land in different parts of the province and in
time became good citizens.
Cornwallis's instructions from the British
ministry contained many clauses relating to
the Acadians. Though they had given assist-
ance to the enemy ,|they should be permitted
to remain in the possession of their property.
They must, however, take the oath of allegi-
ance * within three months] from the date of
CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS , -
the declaration ' which the governor was to
make. Liberty of conscience should be per-
mitted to all. In the event of any of the in-
habitants wishing to leave the province, the
governor should remind them that the time
allowed under the Treaty of Utrecht for the
removal of their property had long since
expired. The governor should take particular
care that ' they do no damage, before such
their removaLJ^o their respective homes and
plantations. ^Determined efforts should be
made, not om^to Anglicize, but to Protest-
antize the people. Marriages between the
Acadians and the English were to be en-
couraged. Trade with the French settlements
was prohibiteET" No episcopal jurisdiction
might be exercised in the province, a mandate
intended to shut out the bishop of Quebec.
Every facility was to be given for the educa-
tion of Acadian children in Protestant schools.
f.
Those who embraced Protestantism were to
be confirmed in their lands, free from quit-
rent for a period of ten years. 1
Armed with these instructions, Cornwallis
adopted at first a strong policy. On July 14,
1749, he issued a proclamation containing
' the declaration of His Majesty regarding the
1 Canadian Archives Report, 1905, Appendix C, vol. ii, p. 50.
^ THE ACADIAN EXILES
French inhabitants of Nova Scotia, 1 and call
ing on the Acadians to take the oath of allegi-
ance within three months. At a meeting of
the Council held the same day, at which re-
presentatives of the Acadians were present,
the document was discussed. The deputies
listened with some concern to the declaration,
and inquired whether permission would be
given them to sell their lands if they decided
to leave the country. The governor replied
that under the Treaty of Utrecht they had en-
joyed this privilege for one year only, and
that they could not now * be allowed to sell or
carry off anything.' The deputies asked for
time to consult the inhabitants. This was
granted, with a warning that those who ' should
not take the oath of allegiance before the
I5th of October should forfeit all their posses-
sions and rights in the Province.' Deputies
from nine districts appeared before the Council
on July 31 and spoke for the Acadians. The
Council deliberated and decided that no priest
should officiate without a licence from the
/ governor ; that no exemption from bearing
arms in time of war could be made ; that
the oath must be taken as offered ; jand that
all who wished to continue in the possession
of their lands must appear and take the oath
CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS 65
before October 15, which would be the last
day allowed them. 1
A month later they presented to Cornwallis
a petition signed by one thousand inhabitants
to the effect that they had faithfully served
"King George, and were prepared to renew the
oath which was tendered to them by Governor
Philipps ; that two years before His Majesty
had promised to maintain them in the
peaceable enjoyment of their possessions :
' And we believe, Your Excellency, that if
His Majesty had been informed of our con-
duct towards His Majesty's Government, he
would not propose to us an oath which, if
taken, would at any moment expose our lives
to great peril from the savage nations, who
have reproached us in a strange manner as to
the oath we have taken to His Majesty. . . .
But if Your Excellency is not disposed to
grant us what we take the liberty of asking,
we are resolved, every one of us, to leave the
country.' In reply Cornwallis reminded them
that, as British subjects, they were in the
enjoyment of their religion and in possession
of their property. ' You tell me that General
Philipps granted you the reservation which
you demand ; and I tell you gentlemen, that
1 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 14,
A.E, E
66 THE ACADIAN EXILES
the general who granted you such reservation
did not do his duty. . . . You have been for
more than thirty-four years past the subjects
of the King of Great Britain. . . . Show now
that you are grateful.' l
The Acadians, however, showed still a de-
cided aversion to an unqualified oath ; and
Cornwallis apparently thought it best to re-
cede somewhat from the high stand he had
taken. 'He wrote to the home government
explaining that he hesitated to carry out the
terms of his proclamation of July 14 by con-
fiscating the property of those who did not
take the oath, on tl^gr^mi^ha^the^Lcadians
would not emigrate at that season of the year,
and that in the meantime he could employ
them to advantage. If they continued to prove
obstinate, he would seek new instructions to
force things to a conclusion. 2 The Acadians,
used by this time to the lenity of the British
government, were probably not surprised to
find, at the meeting of the Council held on
October n, no mention of the oath which had
to be taken before the isth of the month.
The winter passed, and still Cornwallis took
1 no steps to enforce his proclamation. He had
1 Public Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 49.
2 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxv, p. 48.
CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS 67
his troubles ; for the French, from Quebec on
the one side and from Louisbourg on the other,
were fomenting strife ; and the Indians were
on the war-path. And, in February 1750, the
Lords of Trade wrote that as the French were
forming new settlements with a view to en-
ticing the Acadians into them, any forcible
means of ejecting them should be waived for
the present. Cornwallis replied that he was
anxious to leave matters in abeyance until he
ascertained what could be done in the way
of fortifying Chignecto. ' If a fort is once
built there,' he explained, ' they [the Indians]
will be driven out of the peninsula or submit.
He also wished to know what reinforcements
he might expect in the spring. Until then he
would * defer making the inhabitants take the
oath of allegiance.'
Meanwhile the Acadians were not idle on
their own behalf. In October 1749 they
addressed a memorial to Des Herbiers, the
governor of He Royale, to be transmitted to
the French king. They complained that the
new governor intended to suppress their
missionaries, 1 and to force them to bear arms
1 Cornwallis had denied the jurisdiction of the bishop of
Quebec, but had intimated that he would grant a licence to
any good priest, his objection being to missionaries such as Le
Loutre, who stirred up the Indians to commit hostilities,
68 THE ACADIAN EXILES
against the Indians, with whom they had
always been on friendly terms. They there-
fore prayed the king to obtain concessions
from Great Britain the maintenance of the
Quebec missionaries, the exemption from bear-
ing arms, or an extension of a year in which
they might withdraw with their effects. 1 Two
months later they sent a petition to the
Marquis de la Jonqutere, the governor of
Canada, actuated, they said, by the love of
their country and their religion. They had
refused^ to take the oath requiring them to
bear arms against their f ellow-ccomtrymen.
They had, it is true, appeared attached, tfli the
interests of the English, in consequence of the
oath which they hacTconsented to take only
when exempted from bearing arms/ Now
that this exemption was removed, they wished
to leave Nova Scotia, and hoped that the king
would help them with vessels, as they had
been refused permission to build them. Great
offers had been made to them, but they pre-
ferred to leave. 2
^ Ip the spring of 1750, unable to obtain per-
mission from Cornwallis to take a restricted
oath, the Acadians almost unanimously de-
1 Canadian Archives Report, 1905, Appendix N, vol. ii, p. 298.
2 Ibid., p. 301.
CORNWALLIS AND THE ACADIANS 69
cided to emigrate/! On April 19 deputies
from several settlements in the district of
Minas the river Canard, Grand Pre, and
Pisiquid appeared before the Council at
Halifax and asked to be allowed to leave the
province with their effects. 1 According to
Cornwallis, they professed that this decision
was taken against their inclination, and that
the French had threatened them with de-
struction at the hands of the Indians if they
remained. 2 v On May 25 the inhabitants of
Annapolis Royal came with a like petition.
In reply to these petitions Cornwallis re-
minded the inhabitants that the province was
the country of their fathers, and that they
should enjoy the product of their labours.
As soon as there should be tranquillity he
would give them permission to depart, if they
wished to do so ; but in the present circum-
stances passports could not be granted to
any one. They could not be permitted to
strengthen the hand of Great Britain's
But; in spite of the prohibition, of the forts
that we're built to enforce it, and of British
cruisers patrolling the coasts to prevent inter-
1 Public Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia B, vol. iv, p. 1300
8 Public Archives, Canada, Noua Scotia A, vol. xxxvii, p. 7.
70 THE ACADIAN EXILES
course with the French, there was a con-
siderable emigration. A number of families
crossed to lie St Jean in the summer of
1750!^ They were aided by the missionaries,
and"^rapplied with vessels and ar/teTby the
French authorities at Louisbourg. *By August
1750 we know that eight hundred Acadians
were settled in lie St JeanS
W
CHAPTER VI
THE 'ANCIENT BOUNDARIES'
BY the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
the question of the limits of Acadia had been
referred to a commission of arbitration, and
each of the powers had agreed to attempt no
settlement on the debatable ground until such
time as the decision of the commissioners
should be made known. Each, however, con-
tinued to watch jealously over its own inte-
rests. The English persisted in their claim
that the ancient boundaries included all the
country north of the Bay of Fundy to the St
Lawrence, and Cornwallis was directed to see
to it that no subjects of the French king
settled within these boundaries. The French,
on the other hand, steadily asserted their
ownership in all land north of a line drawn
from Baie Verte to Chignecto Bay. The dis-
putants, though openly at peace, glowered at
each other. Hardly had Cornwallis brought
his colonists ashore at Halifax, when La Galis-
71
72 THE ACADIAN EXILES
soniere, the acting-governor of Canada, sent
Boishebert, with a detachment of twenty
men, to the river St John, to assert the French
claim to that district ; and when La Galis-
soniere went to France as a commissioner in
the boundary dispute, his successor, La Jon-
quiere, dispatched a force under the Chevalier
de la Corne to occupy the isthmus of Chignecto.
About the same time the Indians went on
the war-path, apparently at the instigation of
the French. Des Herbiers, the governor of
lie Royale, when dispatching the Abbe Le
Loutre to the savages with the usual presents,
had added blankets and a supply of powder
and ball, clearly intended to aid them should
they be disposed to attack the English settle-
ments. Indians from the river St John joined
the Micmacs and opened hostilities by seizing
an English vessel at Canso and taking twenty
prisoners. The prisoners were liberated by
Des Herbiers ; but the Micmacs, their blood
up, assembled at Chignecto, near La Corners
post, and declared war on the English. The
Council at Halifax promptly raised several
companies for defence, and offered a reward
of 10 for the capture of an Indian, dead
or alive. Cornwallis complained bitterly to
Louisbourg that Le Loutre was stirring up
THE ' ANCIENT BOUNDARIES ' 73
trouble; but Des Herbiers disingenuously
disclaimed all responsibility for the abbe.
The Indians, he said, were merely allies, not
French subjects, and Le Loutre acted under
the direction of the governor of Canada. He
promised also that if any Frenchman molested
the English, he should be punished, a promise
which, as subsequent events showed, he had
no intention of keeping.
a party of one hundred
antiT fifty InjJians^cj^Aire^_a_jcojrnpany of
engineers at Grand Pre, where the English had
just built a fort. Le Loutre, however, ran-
somed the prisoners and sent them to Louis-
bourg. The Indians, emboldened by their
success, tfierTissued a proclamation in the
name of the king of France and their Indian
allies calling upon the Acadians to arm, under
pain of death for disobedience. ^Onjearning
that eleven Acadians_obeyfid this summons,
Cornwallis sent Captain Goreham of the
Rangers to arrest them. The rebels, however,
made good their escape, thanks to the Indians ;
and Goreham could only make prisoners of
some of their children, whom he brought before
the governor. The children declared that
their parents had not been free agents, and
produced
74 THE ACADIAN EXILES
orders of the Indians. In any case, of course,
the ^fiildren were in no way responsible, and
were therefore sent home ; and the governor
described Goreham as * no officer at all.'
When spring came Cornwallis took steps
to stop the incursions of the savages and at
the same time to check the emigration of the
Acadians. He sent detachments to build and
occupy fortified posts at Grand Pre, at Pisi-
quid, and at other places. He ordered Major
Lawrence to sail up the Bay of Fundy with
four hundred settlers for Beaubassin, the
Acadian village at the head of Chignecto Bay.
For the time being, however, this undertak-
ing did not prosper. On arriving, Lawrence
encountered a band of Micmacs, which Le
Loutre had posted at the dikes to resist the
disembarkation. Some fighting ensued before
Lawrence succeeded in leading ashore a body
of troops. The motive of the turbulent abbe
was to preserve the Acadians from the con-
taminating presence of heretics and enemies
of his master, the French king. And, when
he saw that he could not prevent the^Ehglish
from making a lodgment in the village, he
went forward with his Micmacs and set it on
fire, thus forcing the Acadian inhabitants to
cross to the French camp at Beausejour, some
THE ' ANCIENT BOUNDARIES ' 75
two miles off. Here La Corne had set up his
standard to mark the boundary of New France,
beyond which he dared the British to advance
at their peril. At a conference which was
arranged between Lawrence and La Corne,
La Corne said that the governor of Canada,
La Jonquiere, had directed him to take pos-
session of the country to the north, ' or at
least he was to keep it and must defend it till
the boundaries between the two Crowns should
be settled.' 1 Moreover, if Lawrence should
try to effect a settlement, La Corne would
oppose it to the last. And as Lawrence's
forces were quite inadequate to cope with La
Corners, it only remained for Lawrence to
return to Halifax with his troops and settlers.
Meanwhile Boishebert stood guard for the
governor of Quebec at the mouth of the river
St John. In the previous year, when he had
arrived there, Cornwallis had sent an officer
to protest against what he considered an en-
croachment ; but Boishebert had answered
simply that he was commissioned to hold the
place for his royal master without attempting
a settlement until the boundary dispute should
be adjusted. Now, in July 1750, Captain
Cobb of the York, cruising in the Bay of Fundy,
1 Canadian Archives Report, 1905, Appendix N, vol. ii, p. 321.
76 THE ACADIAN EXILES
sighted a French sloop near the mouth of the
St John, and opened fire. The French captain
immediately lowered his boats and landed a
party of sailors, apparently with the inten-
tion of coming to a conference. Cobb followed
his example. Presently Boishbert came
forward under a flag of truce and demanded
Cobb's authority for the act of war in terri-
tory claimed by the French. Cobb produced
his commission and handed it to Boishebert.
Keeping the document in his possession, Bois-
h6bert ordered Cobb to bring his vessel under
the stern of the French sloop, and sent French
officers to board Cobb's ship and see the
order carried out. The sailors on the York,
however, held the Frenchmen as hostages
for the safe return of their captain. After
some parleying Cobb was allowed to return
to his vessel, and the Frenchmen were re-
leased. Boishebert, however, refused to return
the captain's commission. Cobb thereupon
boarded the French sloop, seized five of the
crew, and sailed away.
So the game went on. A month later the
British sloop Trial, at Baie Verte, captured a
French sloop of seventy tons which was en-
gaged in carrying arms and supplies to Le
Loutre's Indians. On board were four de-
THE ANCIENT BOUNDARIES ' 77
serters from the British and a number of
Acadians. Among the papers found on the
Acadians were letters addressed to their
friends in Quebec and others from Le Loutre
and officers of Fort St John and of Port La
Joie in He St Jean. From one of these letters
we obtain a glimpse of the conditions of the
Acadians :
I shall tell you that I was settled in
Acadia. I have four small children. I
lived contented on my land. But that did
not last long, for we were compelled to
leave all our property and flee from under
the domination of the English. The King
undertakes to transport us and support
us under the expectation of news from
France. If Acadia is not restored to
France I hope to take my little family
and bring it to Canada. I beg you to
let me know the state of things in that
country. I assure you that we are in
poor condition, for we are like the Indians
in the woods. 1
By other documents taken it was shown that
supplies from Quebec were frequently pass-
ing to the Indians, and that the dispatches
1 A. Doucet to Mde Langedo of Quebec, August 5, 1750.
78 THE ACADIAN EXILES
addressed to Cornwallis were intercepted and
forwarded to the governor of Quebec. 1
These papers revealed to Cornwallis the
peril which menaced him. But, having been
reinforced by the arrival from Newfoundland
of three hundred men of Lascelles's regiment,
he resolved to occupy Chignecto, which
Lawrence had been forced to abandon in
April. Accordingly Lawrence again set out,
this time with about seven hundred men. In
mid-September his ships appeared off the
burnt village of Beaubassin. Again the land-
ing was opposed by a band of Indians and
about thirty Acadians entrenched on the
shore. These, after some fighting and losses,
were beaten off ; and the English troops
landed and proceeded to construct a fort,
named by them Fort Lawrence, and to erect
barracks for the winter. La Corne, from his
fort at Beausejour, where he had his troops
and a body of Acadians, addressed a note to
Lawrence, proposing a meeting in a boat in
the middle of the river. Lawrence replied
that he had no business with La Corne, and
that La Corne could come to him if he had
anything to communicate. Acts of violence
followed. It was not long before a scouting
1 Cornwallis to Bedford, August 19, 1750,
THE ' ANCIENT BOUNDARIES ' 79
party under the command of Captain Bartelot
was~ surrounded by a band of Indians and
Acadians. 1 Forty-five of the party were
killed, and Bartelot and eight men were taken
prisoners. A few weeks later there was an
act of treachery which greatly embittered the
British soldiers. This was the murder of
Captain Howe, one of the British officers, by
some of Le Loutre's Micmacs. It was stated
that Le Loutre was personally implicated in
the crime, but there appears not the slightest
foundation for this charge. One morning in
October Howe saw an Indian carrying a flag
of truce on the opposite side of the Missaguash
river, which lay between Fort Lawrence and
Fort Beausejour. Howe, who had often held
converse with the savages, went forward to
meet the Indian, and the two soon became
engaged in conversation. Suddenly the Indian
lowered his flag, a body of savages concealed
behind a dike opened fire, and Howe fell,
mortally wounded. In the work of bringing
the dying officer into the fort ten of his com-
pany also fell.
Meanwhile an event occurred which seemed
1 La Valliere, one of the French officers on the spot, says that
the Indians and Acadians were encouraged by Le Loutre during
this attack. Journal of the Sieur de la Valliere,
8o THE ACADIAN EXILES
likely to promote more cordial relations
between the French and the English. Early
in October Des Herbiers returned to Halifax
thirty-seven prisoners, including six women,
who had been captured by the Indians but
ransomed and sent to Louisbourg by the Abb6
Le Loutre. It is difficult to reconcile the
conduct of the meddlesome missionary on this
occasion with what we know of his character.
I He was possessed of an inveterate hatred of
ijthe English and all their works ; yet he was
(capable of an act of humanity towards them.
After all, it may be that generosity was not
foreign to the nature of this fanatical French
patriot. Cornwallis was grateful, and cheer-
fully refunded the amount of the ransom. 1
But the harmony existing between Des
Herbiers and Cornwallis was of short duration.
In the same month the British sloop Albany,
commanded by Captain Rous, fell on the
French brigantine St Frangois, Captain Vergor,
on the southern coast. Vergor, who was
carrying stores and ammunition to Louisbourg,
ran up his colours, but after a fight of three
hours he was forced by Rous to surrender.
The captive ship was taken to Halifax and
1 Des Herbiers to Cornwallis, October 2, 1750. Public
Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. xxxix, p. 13.
THE ' ANCIENT BOUNDARIES ' 81
there condemned as a prize, the cargo being
considered contraband of war. La Jonquiere
addressed a peremptory letter to Cornwallis,
demanding whether he was acting under orders
in seizing a French vessel in French territory.
He likewise instructed Des Herbiers to seize
ships of the enemy ; and as a result four prizes
were sold by the Admiralty Court at Louis-
bourg.
Open hostilities soon became the order of
the day. During the winter a party of Cana-
dians and Indians and Acadians disguised as
Indians assembled near Fort Lawrence. t They
succeeded in killing two men, and continued
to fire ^on the British position for two days.
But, as the garrison remained within the
shelter of the walls, the attackers grew weary
of wasting ammunition and withdrew to harry
the settlement at Halifax. According to the
French accounts, these savages killed thirty
persons on the outskirts of Halifax in the
spring of 1751, and Cornwallis reported that
four inhabitants and six soldiers had been
taken prisoners. Then in June three hundred
British troops from Fort Lawrence invaded the
French territory to attempt a surprise. They
were discovered, however, and St Ours, who
had succeeded La Corne, brought out his forces
A.E.
82 THE ACADIAN EXILES
and drove them back to Fort Lawrence. A
month later the British made another attack
and destroyed a dike, flooding the lands of the
Acadians in its neighbourhood.
And during all this time England and France
were theoretically at peace. Their commis-
sioners sat in Paris, La Galissoniere on one
side, Shirley on the other, piling up mountains
of argument as to the ' ancient boundaries ' of
Acadia. All to no purpose ; for neither nation
could afford to recede from its position. It
was a question for the last argument of kings.
Meanwhile the officials in the colonies anxiously
waited for the decision; and the poor Acadians,
torn between the hostile camps, and many of
them now homeless, waited too.
CHAPTER VII
A LULL IN THE CONFLICT
THE years 1752 and 1753 were, on the whole,
years of peace and quiet. This was largely
due to changes in the administration on both
sides. At the end of 1751 the Count de Ray-
mond had replaced Des Herbiers as governor
of He Royale ; in 1752 Duquesne succeeded
La Jonquiere at Quebec as governor of New
France ; and Peregrine Hopson took the place
of Cornwallis in the government of Nova
Scotia. Hopson adopted a policy of concilia-
tion. When the crew of a New England
schooner in the summer of 1752 killed an
Indian lad and two girls whom they had en-
ticed on board, Hopson promptly offered a
reward for the capture of the culprits. He
treated the Indians with such consistent kind-
ness that he was able in the month of Sep-
tember to form an alliance with the Micmacs
on the coast. He established friendly rela-
tions also with Duquesne and Raymond, and
83
84 THE ACADIAN EXILES
arranged with them a cartel of exchange re-
garding deserters.
Towards the Acadians Hopson seemed most
sympathetic. From the experience of Corn-
wallis he knew, of course, their aversion to the
oath of allegiance. In writing to the Lords
of Trade for instructions he pointed out the
obstinacy of the people on this question, but
made it clear how necessary their presence
was to the welfare of the province. Mean-
while he did his best to conciliate them. When
complaints were made that Captain Hamilton,
a British officer, had carried off some of their
cattle, Hamilton was reprimanded and the
cattle were paid for. Instructions were then
issued to all officers to treat the Acadians as
British subjects, and to take nothing from
them by force. Should the people refuse to
comply with any just demand, the officer
must report it to the governor and await his
orders. When the Acadians provided wood
for the garrison, certificates must be issued
which should entitle them to payment.
The political horizon at the opening of the
year 1753 seemed bright to Hopson. But in
the spring a most painful occurrence threat-
ened for a time to involve him in an Indian
war. Two men, Connor and Grace, while cruis-
A LULL IN THE CONFLICT 85
ing off the coast, had landed at He Dore, and
with the assistance of their ruffianly crew had
plundered an Indian storehouse. They were
overtaken by a storm, their schooner became
a total wreck, and Connor and Grace alone
survived. They were rescued by the Indians,
who cared for them and gave them shelter.
But the miserable cowards seized a favourable
moment to murder and scalp their benefactors.
Well satisfied with their brutal act, they pro-
ceeded to Halifax with the ghastly trophies,
and boldly demanded payment for the scalps
of two men, three women, and two children.
Their story seemed so improbable that the
Council ordered them to give security to appear
in the court at the next general session. 1 The
prospect of a permanent peace with the Indians
vanished. They demanded that the Council
should send a schooner to He Dore to protect
their shores. The Council did send a vessel.
But no sooner had it arrived than the .Indians
seized and massacred the whole crew save
one man, who claimed to be of French origin
and was later ransomed by the French.
In September the inhabitants of Grand Pre,
1 Hopson to Lords of Trade, April 30, 1753, p. 30. Deposi-
tion of Connor and Grace, April 16, 1753, p. 30 et seq. Public
Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. liii.
86 THE ACADIAN EXILES
Canso, and Pisiquid presented a petition to
the Council at Halifax, praying that their
missionaries be excused from taking the
ordinary oath. The. Acadians were entitled
to the free exercise of their religion, and the
bishop of Quebec would not send priests if
they were required to become British subjects.
The Council deliberated. Fearing to give the
Acadians a pretext for leaving the country on
the plea that they had been deprived of the
services of their priests, the Council decided
to grant the petition, providing, however,
that the priests should obtain a licence from
the governor.
The Lords of Trade approved Hopson's
policy, which appeared to be bearing good
fruit. Later in the autumn came another
delegation of Acadians who had formerly re-
sided at Pisiquid but had migrated to French
territory, asking to be allowed to return to
their old homes. They had left on account of
the severe oath proposed by Cornwallis, but
were now willing to come back and take a re-
stricted oath. Ecr fear of the Indians, they
could not swear to bear arms in aid of the
English in time of war. They wished also to be
able to move from the province whenever they
desired, and to take their effects with them.
A LULL IN THE CONFLICT ^87
Evidently they had not found Utopia under
the French flag. The Council gave them the
permission they desired, promised them the
free exercise of their religion, a sufficient
number of priests for their needs, and all the
privileges conferred by the Treaty of Utrecht.
On the whole, the situation in the autumn
of 1753 was most promising. The AcadianSy
said Hopson, behaved ' tolerably well,' though
they still feared the Indians should they
attach themselves to the English. Of the
French on the frontier there was nothing to
complain ; and an era of peace seemed assured.
But before the end of the year another page
in the history of Nova Scotia had been turned.
Raymond, the governor of He Royale, gave
place to D'Ailleboust. Hopson was com-
pelled to return to England on leave of absence
through failing eyesight, and Charles Lawrence
reigned in his stead.
CHAPTER VIII
THE LAWRENCE REGIME
THE policy both of France and of England
ards the Acadians was based upon political
expediency rather than upon any definite or
well-conceived plan for the development of
the country. The inhabitants, born to serve
rather than to commamOiad honestly striven
according to their lightro maintain respect
for constituted authority. But the state of
unrest into which they were so frequently
thrown had deprived them of all sense of
security in their homes and had created among
them a spirit of suspicion. Unable to reason,
disinclined to rebel, they had settled down
into a morose intractability, while their con-
fidence in the generosity or even in the justice
of their rulers gradually disappeared. Those
who could have restored them to a normal
condition of healthy citizenship saw fit to keep
them in disquietude, holding over their heads
the tomahawk of the Indian. England and
88
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 89
France were nominally at peace. But each
nation was only waiting for a favourable
moment to strike a decisive blow, not merely
for Acadia or any part of it, but for the mastery
of the North American continent. With this
object ever in the background, France, through
her agents, strove to make the Acadians a
thorn in Great Britain's side, while England
hesitated to allow them to pass over to the
ranks of her enemies. At the same time she
was anxious that they should, by some visible
sign, acknowledge her sovereignty. But to
become a British subject it was necessary to
take the oath of allegiance. Most of the .
Acadians had refused to take this oath with-
out reservations. jGreat Britain ^should-then
haye^allowed them to depart or should have de-
ported them. She had done neither. On the
contrary, she iTad tried^ t g^TgeepT them, had
made c^^firniinne i? thtm * L ^*aT^ J1 ^^ had \
closed her eyes to violations of the law, until
many of them had been, by various means,
acknowledged as British subjects.
A Murray or a Dorchester would have
humoured the people and would probably
have kept them in allegiance. But this was
an impossible task for Lawrence. He was un-
fn gntyiprnmfcp. He kept before
90 THE ACADIAN EXILES
him the letter of the law, and believed
that any deviation from it was fraught with
danger. He entered upon his duties as ad-
ministrator in the month of October 1753.
Six weeks later he made a report on the con-
dition of affairs in the province. This report
contains one pregnant sentence. He is refer-
ring to the emigrant Acadians who had left
their homes for French soil and were now
wishing to come back, and he says : * But
Your Lordships may be assured they will never
have my consent to return until they comply
[take the oath] without any reservation what-
ever.' 1 This was th^Jceynote of all Lawrence's
subsequent action.
He does not appear to have given any
sideration to the fact that for forty years the
Lords of Trade had, for various motives,
nursed the people, or that only two years
before the Council at Halifax had declared the
) Acadians to be still entitled to the privileges
^accorded to them by the Treaty of Utrecht.
JrTo hinvthe Acadians were as an enemyjrrjfoe*
^tamp, anjd^a^Ju^jyiey were to be treated,, t
Lords of Trade partly acquiesced^
Lawrence's reasoning, yet they warned him
1 Lawrence to Lords of Trade, December 5, 1753.
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 91
to be cautious. A year before they had an-
nounced that those who remained in the
country were to be considered as holding good
titles ; but they now maintained that the
inhabitants had ' in fat _no- right, but upon
condition of taking the oath of allegiance
absolute and unqualified/ Officials might be
sent among them to inquire into their dis-
putes, but ' the more we consider the point, the
more nice and difficult it appears to us ; for,
as on the one hand great caution ought to be
used to avoid giving alarm and creating such
a diffidence in their minds as might induce
them to quit the province, and by their
numbers add strength to the French settle-
ments, so on the other hand we should be
equally cautious of creating an improper and
false confidence in them, that by a perseverance
in refusing to take the oath of allegiance, they
may gradually work out in their own way a
right to their lands and to the benefit and
protection of the law, which they are not en-
titled to but on that condition.' x
After nine months' tenure of office Lawrence
had fully made up his mind as to his policy in
g with the Acadians. On August I,
ne addressed a letter to the Lords of
1 Lords of Trade to Lawrence, March 4, 1754.
92 THE ACADIAN EXILES
Trade, to acquaint them with the measures
which appeared to him to be 'the most prac-
ticable and effectual for putting a stop to the
many inconveniences we have long laboured
under, from their obstmacy, treachery, par-
tiality to their own countrymen, alnd their
ingratitude for the favour, indulgence, and
protection they have at all times so unde-
servedly received from His Majesty's Govern-
ment. Your Lordships well know that they
always affected a neutrality, and as it has
been generally imagined here that the mild-
ness of an English Government would by
degrees have fixed them in their own interest,
no violent measures have ever been taken
with them. But I must observe to Your
Lordships that this lenity has not had the
least good effect ; on the contrary, I believe
they have at present laid aside all thoughts
of taking the oaths voluntarily, and great
numbers of them at present are gone to
Beausejour to work jor theJFrencJj, in order
to dyke out the wafer~al the settlement.' 1
Lawrence explained that he had offered the
Acadians work^at Halifax, which they had
refused to accept^" and that he had then
issued a proclamation calling upon them ' to
1 Lawrence to Lords of Trade, August I, 1754.
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 93
return forthwith to their lands as they should
answer the contrary at their peril.' More-
over, ' They have not for a long time brought
anything to our markets, but on the other
hand have carried everything to the French
and Indians whom they have always assisted
with provisions^ quarters, and intelligence.
And indeed wh0^ tlT^^emain^ without taking
the oaths to^His Majesty (which they never
will do till they are forced) and have incen-
diary French priests among them there are no
hopes of their amendment. As they possess
the best and largest tracts of land in this pro-
vince, it cannot be settled with any effect while
they remain in this situation. And tho* I
would be very far from attempting such a
step without Your Lordships' approbation,
yet I cannot help being of opinion that it
would be much better, if they refuse the oaths,
that they were_away. The only ill conse-
quences that can attend their going would be
their taking arms and joining with the In-
dians to distress our settlements, as they are
numerous and our troops are much divided ; ;
tho' indeed I believe that a very large part of I
the inhabitants would submit to any terms
rather than take up arms on either side ; but (
that is only my conjecture, and not to be ;
94 THE ACADIAN EXILES
depended upon in so critical a circumstance.
However, if Your Lordships should be of
opinion that we are not sufficiently estab-
lished to take so important a step, we could
prevent any inconvenience by building a fort
or a few blockhouses on Chibenacadie [Shu-
benacadie] river. It would hinder in a
great measure their communication with the
French.'
In order to prevent the Acadians from
trading with the French, Lawrence issued a
proclamation forbidding the exportation of
corn from the province, imposing a penalty of
fifty pounds for each offence, half of such sum
to be paid to the informer. The exact purpose
of the proclamation was explained in a circular.
First, it was to prevent * the supplying of corn
to the Indians and their abettors, who, re-
siding on the north side of the Bay of Fundy,
do commit hostilities upon His Majesty's
subjects which they cannot so conveniently
do, that supply being cut off.' Secondly, it
was for the better supply of the Halifax
market, which had been obliged to supply
itself from other colonies. The inhabitants
were not asked to sell their corn to any par-
ticular person or at any fixed price ; all that
was insisted upon was their supplying the
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 95
Halifax market before they should think of
sending corn elsewhere. There was, of course,
nothing objectionable in this proclamation.
It was only a protective measure for the
benefit of the whole colony, and did * not,/
bind the French inhabitants more or less
than the rest of His Majesty's subjects in
the Province. '_
Towards the Indians Lawrence adopted the ^
same tone as towards the Acadians. The
tribes at Cape Sable had for some time talked
of peace, and an alliance with them was
particularly to be encouraged. The French
were becoming more of a menace, having
strengthened their works at ' Baye Verte and
Beausejour, between which places they lately
have made a very fine road and continue to
seduce our French inhabitants to go over to-
them. ' The message, however, which Lawrence
sent to the Indians was hardly calculated to
produce the desired results. ' In short if the
Indians/ the message ran, ' or he [Le Loutre]
on their behalf, have anything to propose of
this kind about which they are really in
earnest, they very well know where and how
to apply.' I
The answer of the Indians was communi-
1 Nona Scotia Documents, p. 210.
96 THE ACADIAN EXILES
cated by Le Loutre. They agreed to offer
no insult to the English who kept to the high-
way, but they promised to treat as enemies
all those who departed from it. If a durable
peace was to be made, jthey demanded the
cession to them of an exclusive territory suit-
able for hunting and fishing and for a mission.
This territory was to extend from Baie Verte
through Cobequid (Truro) to the Shubena-
cadie, along the south coast to the peninsula
of Canso, and back to Baie Verte an area
comprising half the province of Nova Scotia.
Whether the Indians were serious in their
application for this immense domain, we know
not ; probably it was an answer to the haughty
note of Lawrence. Considering the demand
of the Indians insolent, the Council at Halifax
vouchsafed no reply to it ; but the com-
mandant of Fort Lawrence at Chignecto was
instructed to inform the Indians ' that if
they have any serious thoughts of making
peace . . . they may repair to Halifax/
where any reasonable proposal would be
considered.
A case instructive of the new temper of the
administration was that of the Abbe Daudin
of Pisiquid. The abbe had been suspected
of stirring up trouble among the Indians, and
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 97
Captain Murray of Fort Edward was requested
to keep an eye on him. When the inhabitants
refused to bring in wood for fuel and for the re-
pair of the fort, as they had been ordered to do,
and presented to Murray a statement signed by
eighty-six of their people, declaring that their
oath of fidelity did not require them to furnish
the garrison with wood, Murray attributed their
conduct to the influence of Daudin. Murray
therefore received instructions to repeat his
orders, and to summon Daudin and five others
to appear at Halifax under pain of arrest.
When questioned by Murray, Daudin took
the ground that the people, who were free,
should have been contracted with, and not
treated as slaves ; but he asserted that if
Murray had consulted him instead of reporting
to Lawrence, he could have brought the inhabi-
tants to him in a submissive manner. When
requested to repair to Halifax, Daudin pleaded
illness ; and his followers became insolent,
and questioned Murray's authority. Daudin
and five others were immediately arrested
and sent under escort to the capital.
At a special meeting of the Council held on
the evening of October 2, 1754, Claude Brossart,
Charles Le Blanc, Baptiste Galerne, and
Joseph Hebert were required to explain their
A.E, G
98 THE ACADIAN EXILES
refusal to obey the orders of Murray, and the
following examination took place :
Q. Why did you not comply with that order
to bring in firewood ?
A. Some of them had wood and some had
not, therefore they gave in the remon-
strance to Captain Murray.
Q. Why was that not represented in the
remonstrance, which contained an
absolute refusal without setting forth
any cause ?
A. They did not understand the contents
of it.
Q. Was the proclamation ever published at
the church and stuck up against the
wall, and by whom ?
A. It was, and they believe by John Hebert.
Q. Was it put up with the wrong side
uppermost ?
A. They heard that it was.
The inhabitants were never known to boast
of a reckless facility in reading, even under
normal conditions, and no doubt the grotesque
appearance of the letters in the inverted docu-
ment prompted the answer that ' they did not
understand the contents of it.' Neither have
we any evidence to prove that John Hebert
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 99
contributed to their enlightenment by read-
ing the document. The prisoners, however,
were severely reprimanded by the Council,
and were ordered under pain of military execu-
tion to bring in the firewood.
The Abbe Daudin, when brought before the
Council, was questioned as to his position in
the province. He replied that he served
' only as a simple missionary to occupy him-
self in spiritual affairs ; not in temporal.' The
abbe denied that he had made the statements
attributed to him, and was allowed to prepare
a paper which he termed his defence. The
next day his defence was presented and read ;
but the Council considered that it did not
contain anything * material towards his justi-
fication ' and ordered his removal from the
province. A few weeks later, however, the
inhabitants addressed a communication to
Lawrence, asking for the reinstatement of
the abbe. They expressed their submission
to the government, promising to comply
with the order regarding the supply of
wood ; and the Council, considering that the
Acadians could not obtain another priest,
relented and permitted the abbe to return
to his duties.
It is noteworthy, however, that Lawrence's
ioo THE ACADIAN EXILES
regime was not so rigorous as to prevent some
of the Acadians who had abandoned their
lands and emigrated to French territory from
returning to Nova Scotia. In October 1754
six families, consisting of twenty-eight persons
who had settled in Cape Breton, returned to
Halifax in a destitute condition. They de-
clared that they had been terrified by the
threats of Le Loutre, and by the picture he
had drawn of the fate that would befall them
at the hands of the Indians if they remained
under the domination of the English ; that
they had retired to Cape Breton, where they
had remained ever since ; but that the lands
given them had been unproductive, and that
they had been unable to support their families.
They therefore wished to return to their former
habitations. They cheerfully subscribed to
the oath which was tendered them, and in
consideration of their poverty twenty-four
of them were allowed provisions during the
winter, and the other four a week's provisions
' to subsist them till they returned to their
former habitations at Pisiquid.' The Council
considered that their return would have a
tgood effect. Thus it came about that the
pangs of hunger accomplished a result which
threats and promises had failed to produce.
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 101
While Lawrence was formulating his policy
with regard to the Acadians, events were at
the same time rapidly moving towards a re-
newal of war between France and Great
Britain in North America. Indeed, though
as yet there had been no formal declaration,
the American phase of the momentous Seven
Years* War had already begun. France had
been dreaming of a colonial empire stretching
from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico.
She had asserted her ownership of the valleys
of the Ohio and the Mississippi ; and she had
set before herself the object of confining the
English colonies within limits as narrow as
possible. In May 1754 Shirley, the governor
of Massachusetts, had advised the home
government that he had received intelligence
from Halifax * that some of the rebel inhabit-
ants of Chignecto, together with the Indians
of the Peninsula and St John River, are through
the influence of the French garrison at Beause-
jour engaged in an enterprise to break up all
the eastern settlements,' and he pointed out
that * if the advices are true, they will afford
. . . one instance of the many mischievous
consequences to the colonists of New England
as well as to His Majesty's Province of Nova
Scotia which must proceed from the French
102 THE ACADIAN EXILES
of Canada having possessed themselves of the
isthmus of the Peninsula and St John's river
in the Bay of Fundy, and continuing their
encroachments within His Majesty's terri-
tories.' l To this communication the govern-
ment had replied in July 1754 that it was the
king's wish that Shirley should co-operate
with Lawrence in attacking the French forts
in Nova Scotia.
The British, therefore, determined upon
aggressive action. In December Shirley ac-
knowledged having received certain proposals
made by Lawrence * for driving the French of
Canada out of Nova Scotia according to the
scheme laid down in your letters to me and
instructions to Colonel Monckton. I viewed
this plan most justly calculated by Your
Honour for His Majesty's Service with great
pleasure and did not hesitate to send you the
assistance you desir'd of me for carrying it
into execution, as soon as I had perused it.
... I came to a determination to co-operate
with you in the most vigorous manner, for
effecting the important service within your
own Government, which Your Honour may
depend upon my prosecuting to the utmost
1 Noua Scotia Documents, p. 382. Shirley to Sir T. Robinson,
May 23, 1754.
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 103
of my power.' x In a letter to the Lords of
Trade in January -sfSSpLawrence expressed
the opinion that ' no measure I could take for
the security of the Province would have the
desired effect until the fort at Beausejour and
every French settlement on the north side of
the Bay of Fundy was absolutely extirpated,
having very good intelligence that the French
had determined as soon as ever they had put
the fortifications of Louisbourg into a toler-
able condition to make themselves masters
of the Bay of Fundy by taking our fort at
Chignecto.' 2
In accordance with this Colonel Monckton
was instructed to prepare for an expedition
against Beausejour and St John in the spring
of I 7SS He was given for the purpose a
letter of unlimited credit on Boston ; and
every regiment in Nova Scotia was brought
up to the strength of one thousand men. By
May the expedition was ready. Monckton,
with two thousand troops, embarked at Anna-
polis Royal, and by June i the expedition was
at Chignecto. In the meantime Vergor, the
1 Nova Scotia Documents, p. 389. Shirley says: 'It is now
near eleven at night and I have been writing hard since seven
in the morning . . . and can scarce hold the pen in my hand.'
2 Lawrence to Lords of Trade, January 12, 1755.
104 THE ACADIAN EXILES
French commandant at Beausejour, had not
been passive. He had strengthened his de-
fences, had summoned the inhabitants of the
surrounding districts to his help, had mounted
cannon in a blockhouse defending the passage
of the river, and had thrown up a strong
breastwork of timber along the shore. On
June 3 the British landed. They had little
difficulty in driving the French from their
entrenchments. The inhabitants had no heart
in the work of defence ; and the French, un-
able to make a stand, threw their cannon
into the river and burned the blockhouse
and other buildings. They then retired to
the fort, together with about two hundred and
twenty of the Acadians ; the rest of the
Acadians threw away their arms and ammuni-
tion, asserting that they did not wish to be
hanged. The British took up a position in the
woods about a mile and a half from the fort ;
and on the I3th they succeeded in establish-
ing a battery on a hill within easy range. The
bombardment of the place, which began the
next day, was at first ineffective ; and for
a time the British were driven back. But,
in the meantime, news reached the French
that no reinforcements could be expected
from Louisbourg ; and such disaffection arose
THE LAWRENCE R^IME 107
among the Acadians that they were forofunot
by a council of war to deliberate together or
to desert the fort under pain of being shot.
When the British renewed the attack, how-
ever, the Acadians requested Vergor to capitu-
late ; and he feebly acquiesced. The British
offered very favourable terms. So far as the
Acadians were concerned, it was proposed
that, since they had taken up arms under
threat of death, they were to be pardoned
and allowed to return to their homes and
enjoy the free exercise of their religion. The
soldiers of the garrison were sent as prisoners
to Halifax.
After the fall of Beausejour, which Monckton
renamed Fort Cumberland, the British met
with little further resistance. Fort Gaspereau
on Baie Verte, against which Monckton next
proceeded, was evacuated by the commandant
Villeray, who found himself unable to obtain
the assistance of the Acadians.- And the few
Acadians at the river St John^vhen Captain
Rous appeared before the settlement with
three ships, made an immediate submission.
Rous destroyed the cannon, burned the fort,
and retired with his troops up the river. The
Indians of the St John, evidently impressed
by the completeness of the British success and
104 THT ACADIAN EXILES
Frtr oy their strong force, invited Rous to
come ashore, and assured him of their friendli-
ness.
Having removed the menace of the French
forts, Lawrence was now able to deal more
freely with the question of the Acadians.
The opportunity for action was not long in
presenting itself. /In June the Acadians_pf
Minas presented tocawrence a petition couched
in language not as tactful as it might have
been. In this memorial they requested tjje
restoration of some of their former privileggs^
They first assured the lieutenant-governoroi
their fidelity, which they had maintained in
face of threats on the part of the French, and
of their determination to remain loyal when
in the enjoyment of former liberties. They
asked to be allowed the use of their canoes, a
privilege of which they were deprived on the
pretext that they had been carrying provi-
sions to the French at Beausejour. Some re-
fugees might fiave done so, but they had not.
They used these canoes for fishing to maintain
their families. By an order of June 4 they
had been required to hand in their guns. Some
of them had done so, but they needed them
for protection against the wild beasts, which
were more numerous since the Indians had left
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 107
these parts. The possession of a gun did not
induce them to rebel, neither did the with-
drawal of the weapon render them more faith-
ful. Loyalty was a matter of conscience. If
they decided to remain faithful, they wished
to know what were the lieutenant-governor's
intentions towards them.
^Oh> receiving this memorial Lawrence
ordered the deputies of the Acadians to remain-
in Halifax, on the ground that the paper was
impertinent} Upon this the deputies pre-
sented anotner memorial, in which they dis-
claimed any intention of disrespect, and wish
to be allowed a hearing in order to e
The Council held a meeting ; and the lieuten-
ant-governor explained ' that Captain Murray
had informed him that for some time before
the delivery of the first of the said memorials
the French inhabitants in general had behaved
with greater submission and obedience to the
orders of Government than usual, and had
already delivered to him a considerable number
of their firearms ; but that at the delivery of
the said memorial they treated him with
great indecency and insolence, which gave him
strong suspicions that they had obtained
some intelligence which we were then ignorant
of, and which the lieutenant-governor con-
io8 THE ACADIAN EXILES
ceived might most probably be a report that
had been about that time spread amongst
them of a French fleet being then in the Bay
of Fundy.' 1 The deputies were then brought
in and told that if they had not submitted
the second memorial they would have been
punished for their presumption. ' They were
severely reprimanded for their audacity in sub-
scribing and presenting so impertinent a paper,
but in compassion to their weakness and ignor-
ance of the nature of our constitution/ the
Council professed itself still ready to treat
them with leniency, and ordered the memorial
be read paragraph by paragraph.
n the question of the oath came up for
cusslSn, the deputies said they were read
tojgKe iJLajLthey had done bef o*$f To this
the Council replied that ' His Majesty had dis-
approved of the manner of their taking the
oath before ' and ' that it was not consistent
with his honour to make any conditions.' The
deputies were then allowed until the following
morning to come to a resolution. On the next
day they declared that they could not consent
to take the oath in the form required without
consulting others. They were then informed
that as the taking of the oath was a personal
1 Minutes of Council, July 3, 1755.
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 109
act and as they had for themselves refused
to take it as directed by law, and had there-
fore sufficiently evinced the sincerity of their
unfriendliness towards the government, the
Council could look upon them no longer as
subjects of His Majesty, but must treat them
hereafter as subjects of the king of France.
They were ordered to withdraw. The Council
then decided that with regard to the oath none
of them should for the future be admitted to
take it after having once refused to do so, but -
that effectual measures ought to be taken to
remove all such recusants out of the province,
The deputies, again being called in and in-
formed of this resolution, offered to take the
oath, but were informed that there was no
reason to hope that ' their proposed compli-
ance proceeds from an honest mind and can
be esteemed only the effect of compulsion and
force, and is contrary to a clause in i Geo. II,
c. 13, whereby persons who have once refused
to take oaths cannot be afterwards permitted
to take them, but are considered as Popish
recusants/ Therefore they could not be in-
dulged with such permission. Later they were
offered into confinement.
ijDn the 25th of July a memorial signed by
over two hundred of the inhabitants of Anna-
no THE ACADIAN EXILES
polis Royal was laid before the Council^ The
memorialists said they had unanimously con-
sented to deliver up their firearms, although
they had never had any desire to use them
against His Majesty's government. They de-
clared that they had nothing to reproach
themselves with, for they had always been
loyal, and that several of them had risked
their lives in order frLgive information re-
garding the enemy. NTney would abide by
the old oath, but they could not take a new
one! , The deputies who had brought this
memorial from Annapolis, on being called
before the Council and asked what they had
to say regarding the new oath, declared ' thatx
they_coiikLnot takeanyotfrer Bath than what
_ ^
they h^Lfc^er^^ was the
king's intention, they addea, to force them
out of the country, they hoped ' that they
should be allowed a convenient time for their
departure. 1 The Council warned them of the
consequences of their ref usa(\ and they were
allowed until the following Monday to decide.
Their final answer was polite, but .obdurate :
Inasmuch as a report is in circulation
among us, the French inhabitants of this
province, that His Excellency the Governor
THE LAWRENCE REGIME in
demands of us an oath of obedience con-
formable, in some manner, to that of
natural subjects of His Majesty King
George the Second, and as, in consequence,
we are morally certain that several of our
inhabitants are detained and put to incon-
venience at Halifax for that object ; if the
above are his intentions with respect to us,
we all take the liberty of representing to
His Excellency, and to all the inhabitants,
that we and our fathers, having taken an
oath of fidelity, which has been approved
of several times in the name of the King,
and under the privileges of which we have
lived faithful and obedient, and protected
by His Majesty the King of Great Britain,
according to the letters and proclama-
tion of His Excellency Governor Shirley,
dated i6th of September 1746, and 2ist of
October 1747, we will never prove so fickle
as to take an oath which changes, ever so
little, the conditions and the privileges
obtained for us by our sovereign and our
fathers in the past.
And as we are well aware that the King,
our master, loves and protects only con-
stant, faithful, and free subjects, and as it
is only by virtue of his kindness, and of
H2 THE ACADIAN EXILES
the fidelity which we have always pre-
served towards His Majesty, that he has
granted to us, and that he still continues
to grant to us, the entire possession of our
property and the free and public exercise
of the Roman Catholic Religion, we desire
to continue, to the utmost of our power,
to be faithful and dutiful in the same
manner that we were allowed to be by His
Excellency Mr Richard Philipps.
Charity for our detained inhabitants,
and their innocence, obliged us to beg
Your Excellency, to allow yourself to be
touched by their miseries, and to restore
to them that liberty which we ask for
them, with all possible submission and the
most profound respect.
The inhabitants of Pisiquid presented a
similar petition. They hoped that they would
be listened to, and that the imprisoned de-
puties would be released. Another memorial
was presented by the inhabitants of Minas.
Theyrefused to take a new oath ; and there-
iJporTtheir deputies were ordered to be im-
pd^oned.
\There was now, the Council considered, only
one course left open for it to pursue. Nothing
THE LAWRENCE REGIME 113
remained but to consider the means which
should be taken to send the inhabitants out
of the province, and distribute them among
the several colonies on the continent^
' I am determined/ Lawrence hacrwritten,
' to bring the inhabitants to a compliance, or
rid the province of such perfidious subjects/ 1
He was now about to fulfil his promise.
1 Lawrence to Lords of Trade, July 18, 1755.
A.E. H
CHAPTER IX
THE EXPULSION
imprisonment of the deputies, on George's
Island at Halifax, naturally agitated the minds
of the simple Acadiaft^ In the ripening fields
and in the villages might be seen groups dis-
cussing the fate of their companions^ But,
though they may have feared further punitive
acts at the hands of the British, they were
totally unprepared for the approaching catas-
trophe, and did not for a moment dream that
they were to be cast out of their hony^ de-
prived of all they held dear in the land or their
nativity, and sent adrift as wanderers and
exiles.
/ It is no part of this narrative to sit in judg-
ment or to debate whether the forcible ex-
patriation of the Acadians was a necessary
measure or a justifiable act of war. How-
ever this may be, it is important to fix the
responsibility for a deed so painful in its exe-
cution and so momentous in its consequences.
jThe Council at Halifax had no power to
HA
114
THE EXPULSION 115
enact laws. Its action was limited to the
authority vested in the governor by his com-
mission and his instructions. And, as Lawrence
had as yet neither commission nor instruc-
tions, 1 he asked the chief justice, Jonathan
Belcher, to prepare an opinion, as he desired
to be fortified with legal authority for the
drastic act on which he had determined. /
Belcher had arrived in Nova Scotia from New
England nine months before. He does not
appear to have examined the official corre-
spondence between the years 1713 and 1755,
or even the Minutes of Council. At any rate,
he presented a document ill-founded in fact
and contemptible in argument. The Acadians
are not to be allowed to remain, he said, be-
cause ' it will be contrary to the letter and
spirit of His Majesty's instructions to Governor
Cornwallis, and in my humble apprehension
would incur the displeasure of the crown and
the parliament.' 2 What the instructions to
Cornwallis had to do with it is not clear. There
1 He had not yet been appointed governor. Hopson had
wished to resign in the summer of 1754 ; but the Lords of Trade,
who held him in high esteem, had refused to accept his resigna-
tion, and Lawrence had been made merely lieutenant-governor,
though with the full salary of a governor.
8 Public Archives, Canada. Nova Scotia A, vol. Iviii, p. 380,
Opinion of Chief Justice Belcher.
n6 THE ACADIAN EXILES
is no clause in that document contemplating
the forcible removal of the people. But even
this is immaterial, since the instructions to
Cornwallis were not then in force. Hopson,
who had succeeded Cornwallis, had been given
new instructions, and the Council was governed
by them, since, legally at any rate, Hopson
was still governor in 1755 ; and, according to
his instructions, Hopson was ' to issue a de-
claration in His Majesty's name setting forth,
that tho' His Majesty is fully sensible that
the many indulgences ... to the said in-
habitants in allowing them the entirely free
exercise of their religion and the quiet peace-
able possession of their lands, have not met
with a dutiful return, but on the contrary,
divers of the said inhabitants have openly
abetted or privately assisted His Majesty's
enemies . . . yet His Majesty being desirous
of shewing marks of his royal grace to the
said inhabitants, in hopes thereby to induce
them to become for the future true and loyal
subjects, is pleased to declare, that the said
inhabitants shall continue in the free exercise
of their religion, as far as the Laws of Great
Britain shall admit of the same . . . pro-
vided that the said inhabitants do within
three months from the date of such declara-
THE EXPULSION 117
tion . . . take the Oath of Allegiance.' The
next clause instructed the governor to report
to the Lords of Trade on the effect of the de-
claration. If the inhabitants or any part of
them should refuse the oath, he was to ascer-
tain ' His Majesty's further directions in what
manner to conduct yourself towards such of the
French inhabitants as shall not have complied
therewith.' l Hopson had tendered the oath
to the Acadians. The oath had been refusedlx \
by them. Their refusal had been reported to f
the government ; and there the matter rested.
In another paragraph of the opinion
chief justice asserted that ' persons are de-
clared recusants if they refuse on a summons
to take the oath at the sessions, and can never
after such refusal be permitted to take them.'
This, no doubt, was the law. But the king
had ignored the law, and had commanded his
representatives in Nova Scotia to tender the
oath again to a people who, upon several
occasions, had refused to take it. It was not'
reasonable, therefore, to suppose, as the chief
justice did, that the king would be displeased
at the performance of an act which he had
expressly commanded.
4 Public Archives, Canada. Noua Scotia E, vol. ii. Instruc-
tions to Governors.
n8 THE ACADIAN EXILES
We have seen that, in the spring of 1754,
when Lawrence had intimated to the govern-
ment that a number of the Acadians who had
gone over to the enemy were now anxious to
return to their lands, which he would not
permit until they had taken an oath without
reserve, he was advised not to * create a diffi-
dence in their minds which might induce them
to quit the province. 1 That this was still the
policy is evident from a letter to the same effect
written to Lawrence by Sir Thomas Robinson
of the British ministry on August 13, 1755,
two weeks after the ominous decision of the
Halifax Council. 1 Lawrence, however, could
not have received this last communication
until the fll^ns for the expulsion were well
advanced*/ On the 'other hand, the decision
of the Council was 'not received in England
until November 20; so that the king was not
aware of it until the expulsion was already a
reality. The meaning of these facts is clear.
The thing was done by Lawrence and his
s
1 Nova Scotia Documents, p. 279. Here is a sentence from the
letter : ' It cannot therefore be too much recommended to you, to
use the greatest caution and prudence in your conduct towards
these neutrals, and to assure such of them as may be trusted,
especially upon their taking the oaths to His Majesty and his
government, that they may remain in the quiet possession of
their settlements, under proper regulations.'
THE EXPULSION 119
iCouncil without the authority or knowledge
jof the home government.^
The proceedings in connection with the
expulsion were carried on simultaneously in
different parts of the province : and thexir-
cumstances varied according to the temper
or situation of the people. It will be con-
venient to deal with each group or district
separately.
On July 31, jr?^ Lawrence ordered Colonel
Monckton, who lay with his troops at the
newly captured Fort Cumberland, to gather
in the inhabitants of the isthmus of Chignecto,
and of Chepody, on the north shore of the
Bay. The district of Minas was committed
to the care of Colonel Winslow. Captain
Murray, in command at Fort Edward, was
to secure the inhabitants of Pisiquid, and
Major Handfield, at Annapolis Royal, the
people in his district.
It is regrettable thaiwe do not find in the ;
instructions to these officers any discrimina- 'j
1 At the meeting of the Halifax Council which decreed the
removal of the Acadians the following members were present :
the lieutenant-governor, Benjamin Green, John Collier, William
Cotterell, John Rous, and Jonathan Belcher. Vice-Admiral
Boscawen and Rear-Admiral Mostyn were also present at the
'earnest request' of the Council. Minutes of Council, July 28, 1755.
120 THE ACADIAN EXILES
tion made between the Acadians who had per- '
sistently refused to take the oath and those,
who had been recognized b]gJ;he governor and
Council as British sub j ects!ft Monckton was^
advised to observe secrecy, ana to * endeavour )
to fall upon some stratagem to get the men,
both young and old (especially the heads of
families) ' into his power, and to detain them
until the transports should arrive. He was
also to inform the inhabitants that^l their
cattle and corn were now the property of the
crown, and no person should be allowed to
carry off ' the least thing but their ready
money and household^ urnitureTf On August
8 Monckton was advised that the transports
would be available soon, and that in the
interval he would do well to destroy all the
villages in the vicinity of Beausejour or
Cumberland, and to use ' every other method
to distress as much as can be, those who may
attempt to conceal themselves in the woods.'
|Monckton promptly conceived a plan to
entrap the people. He issued a summons,
calling upon the adult males to appear at
Fort Cumberland on the nth. ..About four
hundred responded to the. callTj The pro-
ceedings were summary. /Monckton merely
1 Nova Scotia Documents', p. 267.
THE EXPULSION 121
told them that by the decision of the Council
they were declared rebels on account of their
past misdeeds ; that their lands and chattels
were forfeited to the crown, and that in the
meantime they would be treated as pqsoners. 1
The gates of the fort were then close^
Less successful was Captain Cobb, who had
been sent to Chepody to capture the Acadians
there. [Before his arrival the people had fled
to the wTJbo?7 Three other parties, detached
from Fort Cumberland to scour the country
in search of stragglers, reported various suc-
cesses. Major Preble returned the next day
with three Acadians, and Captain Perry
brought in eleven. Captain Lewis, who had
gone to Cobequid, had captured two vessels
bound for Louisbourg with cattle and sheep,
and had taken several prisoners and destroyed
a number of villages on the route.
JThe more energetic of the_ Acadians still at
large were not easily caugnty The pangs of
hunger, however, might tempt many to leave
the security of their hiding-places, and Monck-
ton determined to gather in as many more as
possible. On August 28 Captain Frye sailed
from Fort Cumberland for Chepody, Memram-
1 Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. iv.
Journal of Colonel John Winslow, part i, p. 227.
122 THE ACADIAN EXILES
cook, and Petitcodiac, on the north shore, with
orders to take prisoners and burn the villages
on the way. 1 Captain Gilbert was sent to
Baie Verte on a similar mission. Finding the
village deserted on his arrival at Chepody,
Frye set fire to the buildings and sailed toward
PetitcodiaCo On the way the appearance of a
house or a barn seems to have been the signal
for the vessels to cast anchor, while a party
of soldiers, torch in hand, laid waste the homes
of the peasantry.. On September 4, however,
the expedition suffered a serious check. A
landing party of about sixty were applying
the torch to a village on the shore, when they
were set upon by 'a hundred Indians and
Acadians, and a general engagement ensued.
The British, though reinforced by men from
the ships, were severely handled ; and in the
end Trye regained the boats with a loss of
twenty-three killed and missing and eleven
wounded. This attack was the work of
Boishebert, the Canadian leader, whom we
met some time ago at St John. On the cap-
ture of that place by Rous in the summer
1 * Major Frye with a party of 200 men embarked on Board
Captain Cobb Newel and Adams to go to Sheperday and take
what French thay Could and burn thare vilges thare and at
Petcojack. 1 Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society,
vol. i, p. 131. Diary of John Thomas.
THE EXPULSION 123
Boishebert had taken to the woods with his
followers, and was assisting the settlers of
Chepody to gather in the harvest when Frye's
raiders appeared. Frye did not attempt to
pursue his assailants, but retired at once to
Fort Cumberland with twenty-three captured
women and children. He had, however, de-
stroyed over two hundred buildings and a large
quantity of wheat and flax. Meanwhile Gil-
bert had laid waste the village at Baie Verte
id the neighbouring farms. 1
August 31 the transports had arrived at
msejour, and early in the p^onth of Sep-
tember the embarkation begak^ The work,
however, was tedious, and in the interval the
English met with another misfortune. On
October i eighty-six Acadian prisoners dug
a hole under the wall of Fort Lawrence and,
eluding the vigilance of the guards, made good
their escape in the night. 2 But on October 13
a fleet of ten sail, carrying nine hundred and
sixty Acadian exiles, left Chignecto Bay bound
for South Carolina and Georgia. After the
1 * A Party Likewise from ye Bay of verte under ye comand
of Capt. Gilbert who had bin and consumed that vilige and the
Houses adjasent.' 0/an/ of John Thomas.
9 Stormy Dark Night Eighty Six French Prisoners Dugg
under ye Wall att Foart Lawrance and got Clear undiscovered
by ye Gentry.' Diary of John Thomas.
124 THE ACADIAN EXILES
departure of the vessels the soldiers destroyed
every barn and house in the vicinity and drove
several herds of cattle into Fort Cumberland. 1
/Lawrence was now rid of nearly a thousand
Acadians!^ It was less than he expected, to
be sure, "arid yet no doubt it was a great relief
to him. ^S>out this time he should have re-
ceived SirThomas Robinson's letter of August
13, conveying to him the king's wishes in
effect that the Acadians were not to be
molested. 2 This letter received in time would
no doubt have stopped the whole undertaking.
But now that some of the people had already
been deported, there was nothing to be done
'but o go on with the business to the bitter
end^
At Annapolis Royal, more than a hundred
miles south of Monckton's camp, matters pro-
ceeded more slowly. Handfield, the comman-
dant there, had decided to wait for the arrival
of the promised transport$ before attempting
1 'We Burnt 30 Houses Brought away one Woman 200 Hed
of Neat Cattle 20 Horses . . . we mustered about Sunrise
mustered the Cattle Togather Drove them over ye River near
westcock Sot Near 50 Houses on Fyre and Returned to Fort
Cumberland with our Cattle etc. about 6 Clock P.M.' Diary
of John Thomas, pp. 136-7.
2 The date of the receipt of this letter is uncertain ; but it is
evident that he received it before the 30th of November, as on
that day he replied to a letter of the I3th of August.
THE EXPULSION 125
to round up the inhabitants. Then, when
his soldiers went forward on their mission
up the river, no sound of human voice met
their ears in any of the settlements. The in-
habitants had hidden in the woods. Hand-
field appealed to Winslow, who was then at
Grand Pre, for more troops to bring the people
to reason. 1 But Winslow had no troops to
spare. Handfield does not appear to have
relished his task, which he described as a
'disagreeable and troublesome part of the
service/ What induced the inhabitants to
return to their homes is not clear, but early in
the month of September they resumed their
occupations. They remained unmolested until
early in November, when a fresh detachment
of troops arrived to assist in their removal.
On December 4 over sixteen hundred men,
women, and children were crowded into the
transports, which lay off Goat Island and which
four days later set sail at eight o'clock in the
morning.
Meanwhile Captain Murray of Fort Edward
was doing his duty in the Pisiquid neighbour-
hood. On September 5 he wrote to Winslow
at Grand Pre, only a few miles distant : ' I
have succeeded finely and have got 183
1 WinsloLu'3 Journal, part ii, p. 96.
126 THE ACADIAN EXILES
men into my possession.' l But there was
still much to be done. Three days later he
wrote again : ' I am afraid there will be some
lives lost before they are got together, for
you know our soldiers hate them, and if they
can find a pretence to kill them, they will.'
Of the means Murray employed to accom-
plish his task we are not told, but he must
have been exceedingly active up to October
14, for on that date nine hundred persons had
been gathered into his net. His real troubles
now began ; he was short of provisions and
without transports. At last two arrived, one
of ninety tons, and the other of one hundred
and fifty : these, however, would not accom-
modate half the people. Another sloop was
promised, but it was slow in coming. He
became alarmed. ' Good God, what can keep
her ! ' he wrote. * I earnestly entreat you to
send her with all despatch. . . . Then with the
three sloops and more vessels I will put them
aboard, let the consequence be what it will.' 2
He was as good as his word. On October 23
Winslow wrote : ' Captain Murray has come
from Pisiquid with upwards of one thousand
people in four vessels.' 3
1 Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 96. 8 Ibid., p. 173.
5 Ibid., p, 178.
THE EXPULSION 127
Colonel Winslow arrived on August 19 at
Grand Pre, in the district of Minas. After re-
questing the inhabitants to remove all sacred
objects from the church, which he intended
to use as a place of arms, he took up his
quarters in the presbytery. A camp was then
formed around the church, and enclosed by a
picket-fenge. His first action was to summon
the principal inhabitants to inform them that
they would be required to furnish provisions
for the troops during their occupancy, and
to take effective measures to protect the crops
which had not yet been garnered. There was
danger that if the object of his visit were to
become known, the grain might be destroyed.
He was careful, therefore, to see that the harvest
was gathered in before making any unfavour-
afcde announcement.
/JuVi August 29 Winslow held a consultation
with Murray as to the most expeditioiKymeans
of effecting the removal of the peoplgp/ The
next day three sloops from Boston came to
anchor in the basin. There was, of course,
immediate and intense excitement among the
inhabitants ; yet, in spite of all inquiries re-
garding their presence, no information could
elicited from either the crews or the soldiers.
September 2, however, Winslow issued a
128 THE ACADIAN EXILES
proclamation informing the people that the
lieutenant-governor had a communication
impart to them respecting a new resolutk>ny
and that His Majesty 's intention^in respem
thereto would be made knowrnf They were,
therefore, to appear in the church at Grand
Pre on Friday, September 5, at three o'clock
in the afternoon/ No excuse would be ac-
cepted for non-attendance ; and should any
fail to attend, their lands and chattels would
be forfeited to the crown.
Winslow's position was by no means strong.
He had taken all the precautions possible ;
but he was short of provisions, and there was
no sign of the expected supply-ship, the Saul.
Besides, the Acadians far outnumbered his
soldiers, and should they prove rebellious
trouble might ensue. ' Things are now very
heavy on my heart and hands,' he wrote a
few days later. * I wish we had more men,
but as it is shall I question not to be able to
scnffle through.' l
/The eventful 5th of September arrived, and
aFlhree o'clock four hundred and eighteen
the inhabitants walked slowly into the churc
which had been familiar to them from
youth, and closely connected with the most
1 Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 97.
THE EXPULSION
solemn as well as with the most joyous event.
of their lives. Here their children had been
baptized, and here many of them had been
united in the bonds of matrimony. Here the
remains of those they loved had been carried,
ere they were consigned to their final resting-
place, and here, too, after divine service, they
had congregated to glean intelligence of what
was going on in the world beyond their ken.
Now, however, the scene was changed. Guards
were at the door ; and in the centre of the
church a table had been placed, round which
soldiers were drawn up. Presently Colonel
Winslow entered, attended by his officers.
Deep silence fell upon the people as he began
to speak. The substance of his speech has
been; preserved in his Journal, as follows :
Gentlemen, I have received from His Excellency,
Cover nor Lawrence, the King's commission which I
have in my hand. By his orders you are convened
to hear His Majesty's final resolution in respect" to
the French inhabitants of this his province of Nova
Scotia , who for almost half a century have had more
indulg
ence granted them than any of his subjects in
any p; irt of his dominions. What use you have made
of it, ; rou yourselves best know.
The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very
disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I
know it must be grievous to you who are of the same
I
128 THE ACADIAN EXILES
species. But it is not my business to animadvert,
but to obey such orders as I receive ;and therefore
f I without hesitation I shall deliver yotjHis Majesty's
orders and instructions, namely : TnaT your lands
and tenements, cattle of all kinds and live stock of
all sorts are forfeited to the Crown with all your
other effects, saving your money and household
goods, and that you^^purselves are to be removed
from this his province^j
Thus it is peremptorily His Majesty's orders that
all the French inhabitants of these districts be re-
moved ; and through His Majesty's goodness I am
directed to allow you liberty to carry with you your
money and as many of your household goods as you
can take without discommoding the vessels you go
in. I shall do everything in my power that all these
goods be secured to you, and that you be not molested
in carrying them with you, and also that whole
families shall go in the same vessel ; so that this
removal which I am sensible must give you a great
deal of trouble may be made as easy as His
Majesty's service will admit ; and I hope that in
whatever part of the world your lot may fall, you
may be faithful subjects, and a peaceable and happy
people.
\ I must also inform you that it is His Majesty's
/pleasure that you remain in security under the in-
; spection and direction of the troops that I have the
X honour to command. 1
1 Wlnalow's Journal, part ii, p. 94. It is not thought neces-
sary here to follow the grotesque spelling- of the original. It
will be noted that the doom of the people is pronounced in the
Thij
THE EXPULSION 131
This address having been delivered and in-
terpreted to the people, Winslow issued orders
to the troops and seamen not to kill any of the
cattle or rob the orchards, as the lands and
possessions of the inhabitants were now the
property of the king. He then withdrew to
his quarters in the presbytery, leaving the
soldiers on guard.
The first thoughts of the stricken prisoners
were of their families, with whom they had
no means of communication and who would
not understand the cause of their detention.
After some conversation together, a few of the
elders asked leave to speak to the commander.
This being granted, they requested to be
allowed to carry the melancholy news to the
homes of the prisoners. Winslow at length
ordered them to choose each day twenty men,
for whom the others would be held responsible,
to communicate with their families > and to
bring in food for all the prisoners. ,
Only five transports lay in the basin of
Minas. No provisions were in sight. It was
impossible as yet to put all the prisoners on
board. More had been captured, and they
name of the king. But, as already stated, the king- or the home
government knew nothing of it ; and instructions of a quite con-
trary tenor were even then on their way to Lawrence,
132 THE ACADIAN EXILES
now outnumbered Winslow's troops nearly two
to one. Presently news came of the disaster
to Frye's party at Chepody. Winslow, having
observed suspicious movements among the
prisoners, began to fear for the safety of his
own position. He held a consultation with
his officers. It was decided to divide the
prisoners, and put fifty of the younger men on
each of the transports. 1 The parish priest,
Father Landry, who had a good knowledge of
English and was the principal spokesman of
the Acadians, was told to inform the inhabi-
tants that one hour would be given them to
prepare for going on board. Winslow then
brought up the whole of his troops, and
stationed them between the door of the church
and the gate. The Acadians were drawn up ;
the young men were told off and ordered to
march. They refused to obey unless their
fathers might accompany them. 2 Winslow
1 Winslow's Journal, part ii, p. 1 08. 'September 10. Called
my officers together and communicated to them what I had
observed, and after debating matters it was determined, nemine
contract icente, that it would be best to divide the prisoners.'
* I bid., p. 109. ' They all answered they would not go without
their fathers. I told them that was a word I did not understand,
for that the King's command was to me absolute and should be
absolutely obeyed, and that I did not love to use harsh means,
but that the time did not admit of parleys or delays ; and then
ordered the whole troops to fix their bayonets and advance
THE EXPULSION 133
informed them that orders were orders, that
this was not the time for parley, and com-
manded the troops to fix bayonets and advance.
This appears to have had the effect desired,
for, with the assistance of the commander,
who pushed one of them along, twenty-four
men started off and the rest followed. The
road from the church to the ships, nearly a
mile and a half in length, was lined by hun-
dreds of women and children, who fell on their
knees weeping and praying. Eighty soldiers
conducted the procession, which moved but
slowly. Some of the men sang, some wept,
and others prayed. 1 At last the young men
were put aboard and left under guard, while
the escort returned to bring another contin-
gent of the prisoners ; and so until all who
were deemed dangerous had been disposed of.
The vessels had not been provisioned ; but
the women and children brought daily to the
shore food which the soldiers conveyed to the
prisoners.
After this it appears that the soldiers com-
towards the French. I bid the four right-hand files of the
prisoners, consisting of twenty-four men, which I told off myself
to divide from the rest, one of whom I took hold on.'
1 Winsloiv'a Journal, part ii, p. 109.' They went off praying,
singing, and crying, being met by the women and children all
the way (which is a mile and a half), with great lamentations.'
134 THE ACADIAN EXILES
mitted some depredations in the neighbour-
hood, and Winslow issued an order forbidding
any one to leave the camp after the roll-call. 1
In the meantime parties were sent to remote
parts of the rivers in search of stragglers, but
only thirty, very old and infirm, were found,
and it was decided to leave them ashore until
the ships should be ready to depart. It still
remained, however, to bring in the inhabitants
of the parish of Cobequid, and a detachment
under Captain Lewis was dispatched on this
errand. He returned without a prisoner. The
inhabitants of Cobequid had fled ; but Lewis
reported that he had laid their habitations in
ruins.
Neither the needed transports nor the pro-
visions had arrived. Winslow chafed and
groaned. He longed to be rid of the painful
and miserable business. At last, on the even-
ing of September 28, came the belated supply-
ship ; but where were the transports ? Win-
slow resolved to fill up the five vessels which
lay in the basin, and ordered that the women
and children should be brought to the shore.
1 Winalow's Journal, part ii, p. 113.* September 13. No party
or person will be permitted to go out after calling the roll on
any account whatever, as many bad things have been done lately
in the night, to the distressing of the distressed French inhabi-
tants in this neighbourhood/
THE EXPULSION 135
/Families and those of the same village were to
/be kept together, as far as possible. -J
" Meanwhile twenty-four of the young men
imprisoned on the ships made good their
escape, and one Francois Hebert was charged
as an abettor. Winslow ordered Hebert to
be brought ashore, and, to impress upon the
Acadians the gravity of his offence, his house
and barn were set on fire in his presence. At
the same time the inhabitants were warned
that unless the young men surrendered within
two days all their household furniture would
be confiscated and their habitations destroyed.
If captured, no quarter would be given them.
The result was that twenty-two of the young
men returned to the transports. The other
toe were overtaken by the soldiers and shot. 1
] Finally a number of transports arrived,
and, on October 8, amid scenes of wild, confu-
sion, the embarkation began in earnesEj.From
the villages far and near came the families of
those whojsrere detained in the church and on
the vessetedf Some came aiding the infirm or
carryingTne sick, while others were laden with
bundles of their personal effects. Most were
on foot, although a few rode in the vehicles
bringing their household goods. Old and
Winslow 's Journal, part ii, p. 173.
136 THE ACADIAN EXILES
young wended their way to the vessels, weary
and footsore and sad at heart. /In all, eighty
families were taken to the boats. The next
day the men who had been imprisoned on the
vessels since September 10 were brought
ashore in order that they might join their
families and accompany the people of their
own villages. JFour days later (October 13)
several of the ships received sailing orders,
some for Maryland, othexs for Pennsylvania,
* others for VirginiaTJ
By the ist of November Winslow
r er fifteen hundred
ieties wee by no means at an end. /There
were still a large number of people to oe de-
ported. The difficulty lay in the shortage of
transports?? After the vessels had been taxed
to their "unnost, Winslow had still over six
hundred persons on his hands ; 1 and he was
obliged in the meantime-to quarter them in
houses at Grand Pre. /There remained also
the task of destroying the villages to prevent
their occupation by stragglers, fcn accordance
with Lawrence's orders. I Finattyfon December
13, transports were provided for the unhappy
remnant of the prisoners J_and seven days
later the last vessels left port. \The cruel task
1 Winslow's Journal, part-arT-" 183.
THE EXPULSION 137
was doneJln all, over six thousand persons
had been lorcibly deported, while the rest of
the population had been driven to the wilder-
ness and their homes laid waste. Some
wandered to the Isle St Jean and others to
New Brunswick and Canada. ] The land of
the Acadians was a solitude. "~
And so, sorrow-framed, the story of the
expulsion draws to its close. Hardly had the
deplorable work ended, when England made
with Frederick of Prussia the treaty which
formally inaugurated her Seven Years* War
with France. For Lawrence, perhaps, this
was a fortunate circumstance. The day of
mutual concessions had passed ; and an act
which a few months before might have been
denounced as unwarrantable might now, in
the heat of a mighty contest, be regarded as
a patriotic service. Nor is this the only in-
stance of the kind in history. Often, indeed,
has war served, not only to cover the grossest
inhumanities ; it has even furnished an excuse
for substantial reward.
CHAPTER X
THE EXILES
THUS the Acadians passed from the land
their birth and from the scenes of their youth.
Some were to wander as exiles in many lands
for many years, separated from their children
and from their kind, while others, more fortu-
nate, were soon to regain their native soil.
JCawrence,in his instructions to the governors
ofcthe colonies to which he had sent the exiles,
said that they were ' to be received and dis-
posed of in such a manner as may best answer
our dgsigft^pf preventing their reunion ' as a
peopleTT^t was not intended to tear apart
familiesahtt* friends, but, .owing to the scarcity
of vessels and the inadequate arrangements
for the d^oortation, there were many cruel
separations^ The deputies confined since July
on George^ Island, for example, were at the
last moment transferred to Annapolis in order
that they might accompany their families, but
this was not effected, for the deputies them-
13d
THE EXILES ^i
selves landed in North Carolina, while their
wives and children were dispersed in other
colonies. 1 One of the leading Acadians, and
one who had loyally served the British, Rene
Le Blanc, notary of Grand Pr6, was landed
with his wife and his two youngest children in
New York, while his^ighteerj^pther children
were scattered far an^wid^^TThe real separa-
tion of families, however, begcwwirthe colonies.
For example, four hundred persons were trans-
ported to Connecticut ; but before the whole
number arrived an order w^ent forth for their
dispersion in fifty towns/^ Nineteen were
allotted to Norwich^ whits** three only were
sent to Haddon. /In some colonies only
the first boats were*etftowed to disembark the
exiles, and the masters^oi the others were
forced to seek other ports.Jj
fThe treatment of the exiles in the colonies
Vcffied according to circumstances. In some
instances the younger men and women were
bound out to service for periods varying from
three to twelve weeks. In others they were
left free to maintain themselves by their own
1 Nova Scotia Documents, p. 280. Calnek and Savary, History
of the County of Annapolis, p. 124.
2 Petition of the Acadians deported to Philadelphia. Printed
in Richard, vol. ii, p. 371.
THE ACADIAN EXILES
efforts, the state to provide for such as were
incapaBle, through age or infirmity, of per-
forming manual labour. Hundreds of those
who were placed under control escaped and
wandered, footsore and half clad, from town to
town in the hope of meeting their relatives or
of finding means to return to their former
homes. Little record has been preserved of
the journeyings of these unfortunates or of the
sufferings they endured.
^T About a third of the people deported from
Nova Scotia in 1755 found their way to South
Carolina, although that does not appear to
have been the destination proposed for them
by Lawrence^ On November 6, 1755, the
South Carolina Gazette announced that ' the
Baltimore Snow is expected from the Bay of
Fundy with some French Neutrals on board
to be distributed in the British colonies. 1 A
-fortnight later the first of these arrived, and
in the course of a few weeks over a thousand
been landed at Charleston. Soon after,
probably passed onby other colonies, a thou-
sand more arrived!^ Alarmed by the pre-
sence of so many=^crangers, the authorities
adopted measures to place them under re-
straint ; and in February 1756 two parties of
the prisoners broke loose : thirty of them out-
THE EXILES 141
distanced their pursuers ; five or six, accord-
ing to the Gazette, made their way to the plan-
tation of a Mr Williams on the Santee, terrified
the family, secured a quantity of clothing and
firearms, broke open a box containing money,
and headed across the Alleghanies, it was
thought, for the French stronghold, Fort
Duquesne, where Pittsburgh now stands. This
conjecture is probable, since nine Acadians
from Fort Duquesne arriyed at the river St
John some time later, An the interval the
South Carolina legislaturfe^assed an act for
the dispersion of four-fifths of the French
Neutrals in various parishes at the public
expense^the remaining fifth to be supported
Charleston by the vestry of St Phillips.
April 16 passports were given to one hun-
red and thirty persons to proceed to Virginia.
Here they obtained theauthority of the
governor to return to Acadi^jand they fetched
the river St John on June 16, i756A-Some
time later the governor of South Carolina
gave the remainder of .the ygeople permission
to go where they pleased^XTwo old ships and
a quantity of inferior provisions were placed
at thei^di&posal, and they sailed for Hampton,
Virgini^xjn due course nine hundred of them
landed in the district of the river St John," ^>
142 THE ACADIAN EXILES
where they were employed by Vaudreuil,
the governor f jaf New France, in harrying
the British. \ By the year 1763 only two
hundred and gijyfity-three Acadians remained
in South Carolina^ One family of the name
of Lanneau became Protestants and gave two
ministers to the Presbyterian Church the
Rev. John Lanneau, who afterwards went as
a missionary to Jerusalem, and the Rev. Basil
Lanneau, who became Hebrew tutor in the
Theological Seminary at Columbia.
Among the refugees who put out from
Minas on October 13, 1755, were some four
hundred and fifty destined for Philadelphia.
The vessels touched Delaware on November 20,
when it was discovered that there were several
cases of smallpox on board, and the masters
were ordered to leave the shore. They were
not permitted to land at Philadelphia until the
loth of December. Many of the exiles died
during the winter, and were buried in the
cemetery of the poor which now forms a part
of Washington Park, Philadelphia. The sur-
vivors were lodged in a poor quarter of the
town, in ' neutral huts,* as their mean dwell-
ings were termed. When the plague-stricken
people arrived, Philadelphia had scarcely re-
covered from the panic of a recent earthquake.
m
THE EXILES 143
Moreover, there was a letter, said to have been
written by Lawrence, dated at Halifax,
August 6, and published in the Philadelphia
Gazette on September 4, not calculated to
place the destitute refugees in a favourable
light. This is the substance of the letter :
We are now forming the noble project of driv-
ing the French Neutrals out of this province.
They have long been our jsecretenemies
and have assisted the JEndiatis. TCw
able fo~accomplish^ t heiifexpulsipn, it will be
one of the great achievements of the English
in America, for, among other considerations,
theJandsjK^^
best in the country, and we can place good
English farmers_ in~theirjstead. A few days
later another letter was published to the effect
that three Acadians had been arrested charged
with poisoning the wells in the vicinity of
Halifax. Their trial, it was stated, had not
yet taken place ; but if guilty they would
have but a few hours to live.
Robert Hunter Morris, the governor at this
time of Pennsylvania, wrote to Shirley of
Massachusetts saying that, as he had not
sufficient troops to enforce order, he feared
that the Acadians would unite with the Irish
and German Catholics in a conspiracy against
144 THE ACADIAN EXILES
the state. He also addressed the governor of
New Jersey x to the same effect. The governor
of New Jersey, in his reply, expressed surprise
that those who planned to send the French
Neutrals, or rather rebels and traitors to the
British crown, had not realized that there
were already too many strangers for the peace
and security of the colonies : that they should
have been sent to Old France. He was quite
in accord with Morris in believing there was a
danger of the people joining the Irish Papists
in an attempt to ruin and destroy the king's
colonies.
l^The Acadians had arrived at Philadelphia
in a most deplorable condition. One of the
Quakers who visited the boats while they
were in quarantine reported that they were
without shirts and socks and were sadly in
need of bed - clothing? A petition to the
governor, giving an "account of their conduct
in Acadia and of the treatment they had re-
ceived, fell on deaf ears. [An act was passed
for their dispersion in the counties of Bucks,
Lancaster, and Chester./ The refugees, how-
ever, were not withotfr friends. / To several
1 Jonathan Belcher, governor of New Jersey and later of
Massachusetts. He was the father t>f the chief justice of Nova
Scotia,
THE EXILES 145
Quakers they were indebted for many acts of
kindness and generosity./
Among those depoitdi to Philadelphia was
one of the Le Blanc family, a boy of seventeen,
Charles Le Blanc. Early in life he engaged
in commerce, and in the course of a long and
successful career in Philadelphia amassed an
enormous fortune, including large estates in
the colonies and in Canada. After his death
in 1816 there were many claimants to his
estate, and the litigation over it is not yet
eiujed.
fjThe Acadians taken to New York were evi-
dently ^podrlisliEe^ Phila-
delphia^? An Act of July 6, 1756, recites that
' a certain number have been received into
this colony, poor, naked, and destitute of
every convenience and support of life, and, to
the end that they may not continue as they
now really are, useless to His Majesty, to
themselves, and a burthen to this colony, be
it enacted . . . that jthe Justices of the Peace
... be required and empowered to bind with
respectable familiesjsuch as are not arrived
at the age of twenty-one years, for stab a
space of time as they may think proper.^ The
justices were to make the most favourable
contracts for them, and when their term of
A.E. R-
146 THE ACADIAN EXILES
service expired, they were to be paid either
in implements of trade, clothing, or other
gratuit{^\
In th^month of August 1756 one hundred
and ten sturdy Acadian boys and girls made
their appearance in New York. They had
travelled all the way from Georgia in the hope
of finding means to return to Acadia. Great
was their disappointment when they were
seized by the authorities and placed out to
service. Later some of the parents straggled
in, but they were dispersed immediately in
Orange and Westchester counties, and some
on Long Island, in charge of a constable. The
New York Mercury of July 1757 reported
that a number of the neutrals had been cap-
tured near Fort Edward while on their way
to Crown Point. Between the arrival of the
first detachment in New York and the month
of August 1757 the colony was compelled to
provide for large numbers who came in from
distant places. To prevent any further escape
the sheriffs were commanded to secure all the
Acadians, except women and children, in the
county gaol.
At a later date these unfortunates were put
to a strange use. Sir Harry Moore, governor
of the colony of New York (1765-69), had
THE EXILES 147
designs upon the French colony at Santo
Domingo, in the West Indies, and desired
plans of the town and its fortifications. So
he entered into correspondence with the
French Admiral, Count d'Estaing, offering to
transport thither seventy Acadian families in
order that they might live under the French
flag. The count accepted the offer and issued a
proclamation to the Acadians inviting them
to Santo Domingo. Moore had arranged that
John Hanson should conduct the exiles to
their new home. Hanson, on arriving at
the French colony, was to take a contract
to build houses and make out the desired
military plans while so engaged. He suc-
ceeded in transporting the Acadians, but
failed in the real object of his mission.
He was not allowed the liberty of building
houses in Santo Domingo. ArHe Acadians who
went to the West Indies*suffered greatly.
The tropical climate proved disastrous to
men and women who had beenx^eared in
the atmosphere of the Bay of Fundy> They
crawled under trees and shrubs to escape the
fierce rays of the sun. /Numbers of them
perishe4 and life became* a burden to the
toe
j F
Far different was the lot of the Acadians
148 THE ACADIAN EXILES
who were sent tovMaryland. 1 There they
were kindly received^and found, no doubt, a
lot than inlmy of the other colonies.
Those landed at Baltimore were at first lodged
private houses and in a building belonging
to a Mr FotheTatl, where they had a little
chapel. Ij\nd it was not long before the frugal
and industrious exiles were able to construct
small but comfortable houses of their own on
South Charles Street, giving to thaJL.quarter
of the city the name of French Town, f Many
of them found employment on the waterside
and in navigation. The old and infirm picked
oakum.
Massachusetts at one time counted in the
colony a thousand and forty of the exiles, but
all these had not come direct on the ships from
Nova Scotia. Many of them had wandered
in from other colonies. The people of Massa-
chusetts loved not Catholics and Frenchmen ;
nevertheless, in some instances they received
1 The Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, December 4, 1755, said :
' Sunday last [November 30] arrived here the last of the vessels
from Nova Scotia with French Neutrals for this place, which
makes four within this fortnight bringing upwards of nine
hundred of them. As the poor people have been deprived of
their settlements in Nova Scotia, and sent here for some political
reason bare and destitute, Christian charity, nay, common
humanity, calls on every one according to his ability to lend
assistance and to help these objects of compassion.'
THE EXILES 149
the refugees with especial kindness. At Wor-
cester a small tract of land was set aside for
the Acadians to cultivate, with permission to
hunt deer at all seasons. The able-bodied
men and women toiled in the fields as reapers,
and added to their income in the evening by
making wooden implements. The Acadians
were truly primitive in their methods. ' Al-
though,' says a writer of the time, * they tilled
the soil they kept no animals for labour. The
young men drew their material for fencing
with thongs of sinew, and they turned the
earth wi.h a spade. The slightest allusion to
their native land drew forth tears and many
of the aged died of a broken heart.'
As French Neutrals began to come into
Boston from other towns, the selectmen of
that city protested vigorously and passed the
people on to outlying parishes, promising,
however, to be responsible for their main-
tenance should they become a public charge.
Several instances are recorded of children
being sent to join their parents. A certain
number were confined in the workhouse and
in the provincial hospital. But on December
6, 1760, the authorities gave instructions for
the hospital to be cleared to make room for the
colonial troops who were returning home, many
ISO THE ACADIAN EXILES
of them suffering from contagious diseases;
aad-the Acadians were f orthwith turned out.
^Although none of the Acadians appear to
have^been sent direct to Louisiana, large
numbers of them found their way thither
from various places, especially from Virginia,
where they were not allowed to remain. Find-
ing in Louisiana men speaking their own
tongaer~they felt a sense uf security, ancT
gfadt*a41ysettied down with a degree of con-
tentmentTTrhere are to-day in various parishes
of Louisiana many thousand
Acadian- Americans.
?Df the Acadians who succeeded in escaping
Importation and went into voluntar^^ile,
many sought shelter in New Brunswiofe, on
the rivers Petitcodiac, MemramcooK, ~Buc-
touche, Richibucto, and Miramichi, and along
Chaleur Bay. The largest of the settlements
so formed was the one on the Miramichi, at
Pierre Beaubair's seigneuN^where the village
of Nelson now stand^ For several years
these refugees in New\Brunswick bravely
struggled against hardship, disease, and starva-
tion ; but in the late autumn of 1759 the
several settlements sent deputies to Colonel
Frye at Fort Cumberland, asking on what
terms they would be received back to Nova
THE EXILES 151
v\
Scotia/y Frye took a number of them into the
fort tot the winter, and presented their case
to Lawrence. \It was decided to accept their
submission and supply them with provisions.
But when the people returned they were held
as vassals ; and many of them afterwards
were either sent out of the province to France
or England, or left it voluntarily for St Pierre
and Miquelon or the West IndiesN*
Other fugitives of 1755, fifteenfmndred, ac-
cording to one authority, 1 succeeded in reach-
ing Quebec. Here their lot was a hard one.
Bigot and his myrmidons plundered every-
body, and the starving Acadians did not escape.
They had managed to bring with them a little
money and a few household treasures, of which
they were soon robbed. For a time they were
each allowed but four ounces of bread a day,
and were reduced, it is said, to searching the
gutters for food. To add to their miseries
smallpox broke out among them and many
perished from the disease. After Quebec
surrendered and the victorious British army
entered the gates, some two hundred of them,
under the leadership of a priest, Father
Coquart, who apparently had a passport from
1 Placide Gaudet, 'Acadian Genealogy and Notes,' Canadian
Archives Report. 1906. vol. ii, part iii, Appendix A, p. xv.
152 THE ACADIAN EXILES
General Murray, marched through the wilder-
ness to the headwaters of the St John and
went down to Fort Frederick at the mouth of
that river. Colonel Arbuthnot, the British
commandant there, treated them generously.
In 1761, however, many Acadians at the St
John were seized and deported to Halifax,
where they were held as prisoners of war, but
were provided with rations and given ' good
wages for road-making.' 1 Of those who
escaped this deportation, some established
themselves on the Kennebecasis river and
some went up the St John to St Anne's, now
Fredericton. But even here the Acadians
were not to have a permanent home. Twenty
years later, when the war of the Revolution
ended and land was needed for the king's
disbanded soldiers, the lands of the Acadians
were seized. Once more the unfortunate
people sought new homes, and found them at
last along the banks of Chaleur Bay and of
the Madawaska, where thousands of their de-
scendants now rudely cultivate the fields and
live happy, contented lives.
The deportation did not bring peace to Nova
Scotia. Acadians of New Brunswick and of
those who had sought refuge in the forest
1 MacMechan in Canada and its Provinces, vol. xiii, p. 115.
THE EXILES 153
fastnesses of the peninsula and Cape Breton
joined with the Indians in guerilla warfare
against the British ; and there was more kill-
ing of settlers and more destruction of pro-
perty from Indian raids than ever before.
Early in the month of January 1756 British
rangers rounded up over two hundred Acadian
prisoners at Annapolis, and put them on board
a vessel bound for South Carolina. The pris-
oners, however, made themselves masters of
the ship and sailed into the St John river in
February. French privateers, manned by
Acadians, haunted the Bay of Fundy and the
Gulf of St Lawrence and carried off as prizes
twelve British vessels. But in 1761 the
British raided a settlement of the marauders
on Chaleur Bay, and took three hundred and
fifty prisoners to Halifax.
We have seen in a preceding chapter that
from time to time numbers of Acadians volun-
tarily left their homes in Nova Scotia and
went over to French soil. Many of these
took up their abode in He St Jean at Port La
Joie (Charlottetown), where they soon formed
a prosperous settlement and were able to supply
not only the fortress but the town of Louis-
bourg with provisions. Those who were not
engaged in agricultural pursuits found profit-
154 THE ACADIAN EXILES
able employment in the fisheries. There were
also thriving settlements at Point Prince, St
Peter, and Malpeque. It is computed that in
1755 there were at least four thousand Aca-
dians in He St Jean. A much larger estimate
is given by some historians. Now, on the fall
of Louisbourg in 1758, some of the British
transports which had brought out troops from
Cork to Halifax were ordered to He St Jean
to carry the Acadians and French to France.
The largest of these transports was the Duke
William ; another was named the Violet.
Some of the Acadians made good their escape,
but many were dragged on board the vessels.
On the Duke William was a missionary priest,
and before the vessels sailed he was called
upon to perform numerous marriages, for the
single men had learned that if they landed
unmarried in France they would be forced
to perform military service, for which they
had no inclination. Nine transports sailed in
consort, but were soon caught in a violent
tempest and scattered. On December 10 the
Duke William came upon the Violet in a sink-
ing condition ; and notwithstanding all efforts
at rescue, the Violet went down with nearly
four hundred souls. Meanwhile the Duke
William herself had sprung a leak. For a time
THE EXILES 155
she was kept afloat by empty casks in the hold,
but presently it became evident that the ship
was doomed. The long-boat was put out and
filled to capacity. And scarcely had the boat
cleared when an explosion occurred and the
Duke William went down, taking three hun-
dred persons to a watery grave. The long-
boat finally reached Penzance with twenty-
seven of the castaways. The other vessels
probably found some French port. 1
In Nova Scotia the Acadians were sorely
needed. Even their bitter enemy, Jonathan
Belcher, now lieutenant-governor, 2 wrote on
1 In 1763 there were 2370 Acadians in the maritime towns of
France and 866 at various English ports. Many of these re-
turned later to the land of their birth. See Canadian Archives
Report, 1905, vol. ii, Appendix G, pp. 148 and 157.
8 He succeeded Lawrence, who died in October 1760. Two
documents in the Colonial Office Records raise more than a
suspicion that Lawrence had been by no means an exemplary
public servant. The first is a complaint made by Robert Sander-
son, speaker of the first legislature of Nova Scotia, elected in
1758, respecting the grave misconduct of Lawrence in many
stated particulars, including the release from gaol before trial of
prisoners charged with burglary and other grave offences as well
as the misapplication of public funds. The second is a letter from
the Lords of Trade to Belcher laying down rules for his conduct
as lieutenant-governor and referring to the many serious charges
against his predecessor, some of which they regard as having
substantial foundation, and none of which they express them-
selves as altogether rejecting. Consult, in the Public Archives,
Canada, Noua Scotia A, vol. Ixv.
156 THE ACADIAN EXILES
June 1 8, 1761 : ' By representations made to
me from the new settlements in this pro-
vince, it appears extremely necessary that
the inhabitants should be assisted by the
Acadians in repairing the dykes for the pre-
servation and recovery of the marsh lands,
particularly as on the progress of this work,
in which the Acadians are the most skilful
people in the country, the support and sub-
sistence of several hundred of the inhabitants
will depend/ x It seemed almost impossible
to induce settlers to come to the province ;
and those who did come seem to have been
unable to follow the example of the former
owners of the soil, for much of the land
which had been reclaimed from the sea by the
labour and ingenuity of the Acadian farmers
was once more being swept by the ocean
tides.
Yet, when the Acadians began to return
to Nova Scotia in ever-increasing numbers,
Belcher and the Halifax Council decided to
banish them again. In 1762 five transports
loaded with prisoners were sent to Massa-
chusetts, but that colony wanted no more
Acadians and sent them back. Belcher had
some difficulty in explaining his action to the
1 Noua Scotia Documents, p. 319.
THE EXILES 157
home government. And the Lords of Trade
dj4\not scruple to censure him.
VjVhen the Treaty of Paris (February 1763)
brought peace between France and England
and put an end to French power in America,
the Acadians could no longer be considered a
menace, and there was no good political reason
for keeping them out of Canada or Nova
Scotia^jkAlmost immediately those in exile
began u> seek new homes^ -anjong people of
their own race and religion,/~The first migra-
tion seems to have been from New England
by the Lake Champlain route to the pro-
vince of QuebecN There they settled at
various places^rxjtably L'Acadie, St Gregoire,
Nicolet, Becancour, St Jacques-l'Achigan,
St Philippe, and Laprairie. In these com-
munities hundreds of their descendants still
\In 1766 the exiles in Massachusetts as-
sembled in Boston and decided to return to
s^heir native larjchv All who were fit to travel,
^umbering^abouff nine hundred men, women,
and childrervsnarched through the wilderness
along the^Atlantic coast and across New
Brunswick to the isthmus of Chignecto. Many
perished by the,~way, overcome by the burden
and fatigue of a journey which lasted over four
158 THE ACADIAN EXILES
months7> But at last the weary pilgrims ap-
proached their destination. And near the site
of the present village of Coverdale in Albert
county, New Brunswick, they were attracted
to a small farmhouse by the crowing of a cock
in the early dawn. To their unspeakable joy
they found the house inhabited by a family
of their own race. Here they halted for a
few daysy^naking inquiry concerning their old
friends^Tnen they tramped on in different
directions-^Everywhere on the isthmus the
scene walTxhanged. The old familiar farm
buildings had disappeared or were occupied
by strangers of an alien tongue, and even the
names of places were known no more. Some
journeyed to Windsor and some to Annapolis,
where they remained for a time. At length,
on the western shores of the present counties
of Digby and Yarmouth, they found a home,
and there to-day live the descendants of these
pilgrims. For miles their neat villages skirt
the shores of the ocean and the banks of the
streams. For a century and a half they have
lived in peace, cultivating their salt-marsh
lands and fresh-water meadows, preserving
the simple manners, customs, and language
of their ancestors. They form a community
apart, a hermit community. But they are
I
THE EXILES 159
useful citizens, good farmers, hardy fishermen
and sailors.
Both in Canada and in the United States
are to be found many Acadians occupying
exalted positions. The chief justice of the
Supreme Court of Louisiana, Joseph A.
Breaux, is of Acadian descent. In Canada
the Rt Rev. Edward Le Blanc, bishop of
Acadia, the Hon. P. E. Le Blanc, lieutenant-
governor of the province of Quebec, and the
Hon. Pascal Poirier, senator, are Acadians, as
are many other prominent men. And Isabella
Labarre, who married Jean Foret, of Beau-
bassin, was one of the maternal ancestors of
Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
Save in the Maritime Provinces, it is not
possible to count the offspring of the original
French settlers of Acadia who came out from
France in the seventeenth century. It is esti-
mated that there were at the time of the ex-
pulsion ten or eleven thousand under the
British flag, and four or five thousand in lie
St Jean and elsewhere on French territory.
About six thousand were deported, as we have
seen, and scattered over the British colonies.
Undoubtedly a great number of Americans of
to-day are descendants of those exiles, but,
except at the mouth of the Mississippi, they
160 THE ACADIAN EXILES
are merged in the general population and their
identity is lost. Neither can we tell how many
of those who found their way to Old France
remained there permanently. For upwards of
twenty years the French government was con-
cerned in finding places for them. Some were
settled on estates ; some were sent to Corsica ;
others, as late as 1778, went to Louisiana.
Nor can we estimate the number of Acadians
in the province of Quebec, for no distinction
has been made between them and the general
French-Canadian population. For the Mari-
time Provinces, however, we have the count
of the census of 1911. This shows 98,611 in
New Brunswick, 51,746 in Nova Scotia, and
13,117 in Prince Edward Island, a total of
163,474 in the three provinces. The largest
communities are those of Gloucester, Victoria,
Madawaska, and Kent counties in New Bruns-
wick, and of Digby and Yarmouth in Nova
Scotia. Several thousand Acadians are counted
in Cape Breton ; so, too, in Halifax and
Cumberland counties. But in the county of
Annapolis, where stands the site of the first
settlement formed on the soil of Canada the
site of the ancient stronghold of Acadia
and which for many generations was the prin-
cipal home of the Acadian people, only two
THE EXILES 161
or three hundred Acadians are to be found
to-day ; while, looking out over Minas Basin,
the scene of so much sorrow and suffering, one
solitary family keeps its lonely vigil in the
village of Grand Pre.
A.E.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
THE story of Acadia and the Acadians has been
told many times, but most of the treatises on the
subject are unsatisfactory from the historical
point of view, either because of the biased attitude
taken by the authors or because of their in-
adequate use of original sources. The present
writer has deliberately avoided consulting second-
ary works. The following titles, however, are
here suggested for the benefit of the reader who
wishes to become acquainted with the literature
of the subject.
Thomas Chandler Haliburton, An Historical and
Statistical Account of Nova Scotia (2 vols., Halifax,
1829), the earliest general history of the province,
based on but slight knowledge of the sources.
Beamish Murdoch, A History of Nova Scotia
(3 vols., Halifax, 1865-1867), fuller and more accu-
rate than Haliburton, but having less charm oi
style. Francis Parkman, France and England //
North America (9 vols., Boston, 1865-1892, an<
later editions). The chapters on Acadia
scattered through several volumes of this valuabh
series: see the volumes entitled Pioneers oi
162
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 163
France, The Old Regime, A Half-Century of
Conflict, and Montcalm and Wolfe. Ce"lestin
Moreau, Histoire de VAcadie Franchise (Paris,
1873). James Hannay, History of Acadia (St
John, 1879). P. H. Smith, Acadia : A Lost Chapter
in American History (Pawling, N.Y., 1884). Justin
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America:
see vols. iv and v (Boston, 1884, 1887), contain-
ing scholarly bibliographical notes. Abbe* H. R.
Casgrain, Un Pelerinage au pays d'Bvang61ine
(Quebec, 1887). Rameau de Saint-Pere, Une
Colonie Feodale en Amerique, fAcadie (2 vols.,
Paris and 'Montreal, 1889) : the appendix contains
some interesting documents. Edouard Richard,
Acadia : Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in
American History (2 vols., New York and
Montreal, 1895). Rev. Wm. O. Raymond, The
River St John (2nd ed., St John, 1910).
Some older works which incidentally contain
interesting or valuable references to Acadia may
be mentioned. F. X. Charlevoix, Histoire et Des-
cription Generate de la Nouvelle France (3 vols.,
Paris, 1744 ; and translation by J. G. Shea, 6 vols.,
New York, 1866-1872). Abbe* Guillaume Thomas
Raynal, Histoire philosophique et politique des
Etablissemens dans les deux Indes (5 vols., Paris,
1770), which first painted a picture of an idyllic life
of simplicity and happiness among the Acadians.
Thomas Hutchinson, History of the Colony of
Massachusetts Bay (3 vols., London, 1765-1828).
G. R. Minot, Continuation of the History of the
164 THE ACADIAN EXILES
Province of Massachusetts Bay (2 vols., Boston,
1798-1803). Jeremy Belknap, History of New
Hampshire (3 vols., Boston, 1791-1792). W. D.
Williamson, History of the State of Maine (2 vols.,
Hallowell, 1832). The last four works are of much
value for the relations between Acadia and the
New England colonies.
Among special studies of note are : J. G. Kohl,
Discovery of Maine (Documentary History of the
State of Maine, vol. i, 1869). H. P. Biggar, Early
Trading Companies of New Prance (Toronto, 1901).
Henry Kirke, The First English Conquest of
Canada (London, 1871 ; 2nd ed., 1908), a work
which devotes much space to the early establish-
ments in Nova Scotia. Rev. Edmund F.
Slafter, Sir William Alexander and American
Colonization (Boston, 1873), which contains a
valuable selection of documents. Abbe' J. A.
Maurault, Histoire des Abenakis (Sorel, 1866).
Pascal Poirier, Origine des Acadiens (Montreal,
1874) and Des Acadiens depones a Boston en
1755 (Trans. Roy. Soc. of Can., 3rd series, vol. ii,
1908).
Several local histories contain information re-
garding the Acadian exiles in the American
colonies. William Lincoln, History of Worcester,
Massachusetts (Worcester, 1862). Bernard C.
Steiner, History of the Plantation of Menunkatuck
and of the Original Town of Guilford, Connecticut
(Baltimore, 1897). Rev. D. P. O'Neill, History of
St Raymond's Church, Westchester, New York.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 165
J. T. Scharf, Chronicles of Baltimore ( Baltimore,
1874). Edward M'Crady, History of South Carolina
under the Royal Government, 1719-1776 (New
York, 1899).
Of original sources, many of the more important
narratives are available in print. Champlain 9 s
Voyages, a work which appeared in its first form
in 1604: recent editions are by Laverdiere
(6 vols., Quebec, 1870) ; translation by Slafter
(3 vols., The Prince Society, Boston, 1880-1882) ;
and translations of portions by W. L. Grant in
Jameson's Original Narratives of Early American
History (New York, 1907). Marc Lescarbot,
Histoire de la Nouvelle France (ist ed., Paris,
1609) : a new edition with translation has been
edited by W. L. Grant (The Champlain Society,
3 vols., Toronto, 1907-1914). Nicolas Denys, Des-
cription Geographique et Historique des Costes de
VAmerique Septentrionale (Paris, 1672) : new
edition and translation by William F. Ganong
(The Champlain Society, Toronto, 1908). Denys
tells of De Monts, Poutrincourt, Biencourt, and
the La Tours.
Supplementary information can be obtained
from The Jesuit Relations (the first number, by
Father Biard, was published at Lyons, 1616) ; see
edition with translation, by R. G. Thwaites
(Cleveland, 1896). See also Purchas, His
Pi/grimes, vol. iv (1625) ; and John Winthrop,
History of New England, edited by James Savage
(2 vols., Boston, 1825-1826), and by J. K. Hosmer
166 THE ACADIAN EXILES
in Original Narratives of Early American History
(New York, 1908). Gaston du Boscq de Beau-
mont, Les Derniers Jours de VAcadie, 1748-1758
(Paris, 1899) contains many interesting letters and
memoirs from the French side at the time of the
expulsion.
There are several important collections of
documentary sources available in print. The
Memorials of the English and French Commissaries
concerning the Limits of Nova Scotia or Acadia
(London and Paris, 1755) contains the argu-
ments and documents produced on both sides
in the dispute regarding the Acadian boundaries.
Many documents of general interest are to be
found in the Collection de Documents relatifs a
1'Histoire de la Nouvelle France (4 vols., Quebec,
1885) ; in Documents relative to the Colonial History
of the State of New York, edited by O'Callaghan
and Fernow (15 vols., Albany, 1856-1887), particu-
larly vol. ix ; and in the Collections of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society (Boston, 1792-). The
Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society
(Halifax, 1879-), besides modern studies, con-
tain many valuable contemporary documents,
including Journal of Colonel Nicholson at the
Capture of Annapolis, Diary of John Thomas, and
Journal of Colonel John Winslow. Thomas and
Winslow are among the most important sources
for the expulsion.
The Report on Canadian Archives for 1912 prints
several interesting documents bearing on the
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 167
early history of Acadia, and the Report for 1905
(vol. ii) contains documents relating to the
expulsion, edited by Placide Gaudet. The
calendars contained in various Reports to which
references are made below may also be consulted.
The British Government publications, the Calendar
of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West
Indies, which has been brought down only to 1702,
and the Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series,
are also useful. But perhaps the most valuable of
all is the volume entitled Selections from the
Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia,
edited by Thomas B. Akins (Halifax, 1869), though
the editor has taken many liberties with his texts.
A volume entitled Nova Scotia Archives II, edited
by Archibald MacMechan (Halifax, 1900), contains
calendars of Governors* Letter Books and a Com-
mission Book, 1713-1741.
The principal manuscript collections of material
for Acadian history are in Paris, London, Boston,
Halifax, and Ottawa. In Paris are the official
records of French rule in America. Of the
Archives des Colonies, deposited at the Archives
Nationales, the following series are most im-
portant :
Series B : Letter Books of Orders of the King
and Dispatches from 1663 onward (partially
calendared in Canadian Archives Reports for
1899 ; Supplement, 1904 and 1905).
Series C: correspondence received from the
colonies, which is subdivided geographically. All
168 THE ACADIAN EXILES
the American colonies have letters relating to the
refugee Acadians, but the most important section
for general Acadian history is C n , which relates
to Canada and its dependencies, including Acadia
itself, lie Royale, now Cape Breton, and lie
St Jean, now Prince Edward Island.
Series F, which includes in its subdivisions
documents relating to commercial companies and
religious missions, and the Moreau St Me*ry
Collection of miscellaneous official documents.
Series G : registers, censuses, lists of Acadian
refugees, and notarial records.
The Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres has, in the
'Angleterre' section of its Correspondence Politique
and the 'Amdrique* section of its Memoires et
Documents, extensive material on the disputes
with the English Government over Acadia. The
Archives de la Marine (Series B), which is divided
into eight sub-series, has a vast collection of
documents relating to America, including Acadia.
Acadian material is also found scattered through
other series of the Archives Rationales and among
the manuscripts of the Bibliotheque Rationale.
At the town of Vire, in France, among the municipal
archives, are to be found the papers of Thomas
Pichon, a French officer at Louisbourg and
Beausejour, who after the fall of Beausejour lived
on intimate terms with the British in Nova Scotia.
In London most of the official documents for the
period under consideration in this volume are
preserved in the Public Record Office. The most
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 169
useful collections are among the Colonial Office
Papers: Series C.O. 5, formerly described as
America and West Indies, embraces the papers
of the office of the Secretary of State who had
charge of the American colonies ; and C. 0. 217-221,
formerly, for the most part, described as Board of
Trade Nova Scotia, contains the correspondence
of the Board of Trade relating to Nova Scotia.
The Admiralty Papers and Treasury Board Papers
likewise contain considerable material for the story
of British administration in Acadia.
In the British Museum are some manuscripts of
interest, the most noteworthy being Lieutenant-
Governor Vetch's Letter Book (Sloane MS. 3607),
and the Brown Collection (Additional MSS. 19069-
19074). These are papers relating to Nova Scotia
and the Acadians, 1711-1794, including the corre-
spondence of Paul Mascarene.
In Boston two important collections are to be
found: the Massachusetts State Archives, which
contain some original documents bearing on the
relations between New England and Nova Scotia,
and others connected with the disposal of those
Acadians who were transported to Massachusetts,
and many transcripts made from the French
Archives; and the Parkman Papers, which are
now in the possession of the Massachusetts
Historical Society.
The Public Records of Nova Scotia at Halifax
contaj^ transcripts from the Paris and Massachu-
setts Archives relating to Acadia, transcripts from
170
THE ACADIAN EXILES
the Public Record Office at London and from the
British Museum, letter-books of the Governors of
Nova Scotia, minutes of the Executive Council,
and much miscellaneous correspondence and
papers belonging to our period.
In the Public Archives of Canada at Ottawa a
very extensive collection of transcripts has been
assembled comprising all the more important
official documents relating to Acadia. A full
description of most of the series can be obtained
from David W. Parker's Guide to the Documents
in the Manuscript Room at the Public Archives of
Canada, vol. i (Ottawa, 1914). The series known as
Nova Scotia State Papers is divided into several
sub-series : A. Correspondence from 1603 onwards,
made up chiefly of transcripts from the Papers of
the Secretary of State and of the Board of Trade
at the Public Record Office, but including some
from the British Museum and elsewhere (a
calendar is to be found in the Report on Canadian
Archives for 1894) ; B. Minutes of the Executive
Council of Nova Scotia, 1720-1785 ; E. Instructions
to Governors, 1708 onwards. The Archives also
possess transcripts of the French Archives des
Colonies, Series B, down to 1746, Series C 11 and
parts of Series F and G, and of many documents
of the Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, of the
Archives de la Marine, Series B, and of the Biblio-
theque Nationale (among the latter being the
Memoire instruct if de la conduite du Sr. de la Tour).
Also transcripts of the Pichon Papers, of much of
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
171
the C.O. 5 Series for this period in the Public
Record Office, London ; of Vetch's Letter Book,
the Brown Collection and other sources in the
British Museum ; and of parts of the Parkman
Papers, and other records regarding the exiled
Acadians in the Massachusetts Archives.
INDEX
Lbnakis, the, 2, 27. See In-
dians.
Acadia, geographical position
of, 1-2 ; origin of name, i n. ;
first French settlements in,
3-8, ID, 13; taken by the
English, 7, 8-9, 12, 17-19;
restored to France, 9, 10,
I3 17-19; in 1710, 14-16;
the struggle between France
and Britain for, 7-10, 12, 13,
17-21, 89 ; finally surrendered
to Britain, 21-7. See Aca-
dians, Nova Scotia.
Acadians, the, 14-16 ; under the
British, 24-5, 27, 38-40, 77,
QJ-S* 97-9 J their status under
the Treaty of Utrecht, 28-9 ;
desire to remove to I le Royale,
20-31 * ri*fiisft tfl tflkp th<> fiafh
of allegiance to Britain
35, 37-8, 4i-4, <*3, 04, 93, 108-
110; but are prepared to take
a modified oath, 32-3, 45-6,
n86-7, 108-12; influence
e French priests over,
33, 35, 37, 47-3, 64 J Britain's
evasive policy towards, 34,
35-7, 89 ; their attachment to
France, 42, 92-3; their atti-
tude of neutrality, 50-1, 53,
55-6, 73, 92; those of He
Royale transported to France,
52, 56 ; a source of weakness
to British in time of war,
59; petition the king of
France to obtain concessions
from Britain, 67-8 ; permission
to leave Nova Scotia refused,
68-9 ; a considerable emigra-
tion to He St Jean, 70 ; threa-
tened by the Indians, 73-4;
forced to take refuge among
the French, 74; their hard
conditions in war time, 77 ;
fighting against the British,
78, 79, 81 ; torn between hos-
tile camps, 82 ; Hopson's con-
ciliatory policy, 84 ; and the
path of the priests, 86 ; thrown
into a state of unrest and sus-
picion, 88-9 ; reprimanded by
the Council, 97-9; those of
Cape Breton return to Nova
Scotia and subscribe to the
oath, loo ; forced by the
French to take up arms at
Beausejour, 104-5; refuse at
Fort Gaspereau, 105 ; petition
the Council for the restoration
of their former privileges, 106-
107, 109-12; their deputies im-
prisoned, 108-9, 114; the ques-
tion of the legality of the
expulsion, 115-18; their ex-
patriation, 119-37; their dis-
persion and ultimate fate, 138-
150 ; fate of those who escaped
deportation, 13% '$0-2 f their
return to St John river, 141-
173
THE ACADIAN EXILES
142 ; join in guerilla warfare
against the British, 142, 153 ;
the tragic fate of Prince
Edward Island Acadians,
J 53-5. the return to Nova
Scotia, 156, 157-9 ; a second
deportation, 156 ; the number
and situation of their descen-
dants, 150-61. See Acadia.
Adams, John, lieutenant-gov-
ernor of Nova Scotia, 48
and note.
Ailleboust, d', governor of He
Royale, 87.
Alexander, Sir William, his
colony in Nova Scotia, 7, 8,
9, 10, 17.
Annapolis Royal, under the
British, 23, 24, 26-7. See
Port Royal.
Anville, Due d', his disastrous
expedition for the recapture
of Louisbourg, 52.
Arbuthnot, Colonel, and the
Acadians, 152.
Argall, Captain, raids Port
Royal, 6, 17.
Armstrong, Lawrence, lieu-
tenant-governor, his aggres-
sive Acadian policy, 41-5,
47-8.
Bannfield, his duplicity, 40.
Bartelot, Captain, taken pris-
oner at Fort Lawrence, 79.
Beauharnois, governor of New
France, 52, 57-8.
Beaujeu, at Grand Pre", 55.
Beausejour, captured by the
British, 104-5.
Belcher, Jonathan, governor of
New Jersey, 144.
Belcher, Jonathan, chief justice
of Nova Scotia, 115, 117,
H9 n. ; lieutenant-governor,
" ; censured by the Lords
'rade, 156-7.
Biencourt, Charles de, his
settlement at Port Royal,
5, 6, 7, 8. See Poutrincourt.
Boishebert, asserts French
claim to district of St John,
72, 75-6, 80, 122-3.
Breaux, Joseph A., 159.
Breslay, Abb6, and the Aca-
dians, 45.
Brouillan, governor of Acadia,
13 ; of He Royale, 47.
Cape Breton, 31. See He
Royale.
Champlain, Samuel de, his
explorations in Acadia, 3-5 ;
on Razilly, 10.
Charnisay, Sieur d'Aulnay, his
conflict with La Tour in
Acadia, 11-12.
Cobb, Captain, his affray at
St John, 75-6 ; assists in the
expulsion, 121.
Collier, John, 119 n.
Company of One Hundred As-
sociates, the, 9.
Coquart, Father, 151.
Cornwallis, Edward, governor
of Nova Scotia, DO, 62, 71,
72, 73, 75, 78, 80, 81 ; and the
path of allegiance, 63-7 and
note; refuses passports to
the Acadians, 69.
Cotterell, William, 119 n.
Council of Nova Scotia, and
the oath of allegiance, 42-4,
6^oT5r~T67^T6, 112-13; and
the governor Adams, 48 ;
and the Indians, 72, 85, 96 ;
and the Acadians, 86-7, 97-9,
100, 107-10, 112-13 ; decide on
INDEX
175
the expulsion^ 115, 118-19 and
note, 156. See Nova Scotia.
Daudin, Abbe, arrested and
examined before the Council,
96-9.
Denys, Nicolas, 12 n., 18.
Des Herbiers, governor of He
Royale, 67, 72, 73, 80, 81.
Dick, John, sends French and
German emigrants to Nova
Scotia, 61-2.
Doucette, John, lieutenant-
governor of Nova Scotia, 32.
Duquesne, governor of New
France, 83.
Du Vivier, Sieur, 50, 51.
Estaing, Count d', invites the
Acadians to Santo Domingo,
England. See Great Britain.
Fort Gaspereau, surrendered to
the British, 105.
France, her colony in Acadia,
2-3, 9> !0 17-19; her struggle
with Britain for Acadia, 17-
23, 24, 25, 27 ; invites Aca-
dians to settle in He Royale,
29-30 33> 35; her Acadian
policy, 33, 47, 88-9 ; at war
with Britain in Canada, 49-
58 ; the Nova Scotia boun-
dary dispute, 71-2 ; her aims
in North America, 101. See
New France.
Frye, Colonel, assists in the
expulsion, 121-2, 132, 150-1.
Gilbert, Captain, andjthe ex-.
pulsion, 122, 123,
Goldthwaite, Captain, surren-
ders at Grand Pre, 54-5.
Goreham, Captain, 73-4.
Grandfontaine, Hubert de,
governor of Acadia, 13.
Grand Pre, New Englanders
defeated at, 54-5; the ex-
pulsion of the Acadians of,
127-36.
Great Britain, her colonies in
New England, 7, 8; her
struggle with France for
Acadia, 17-23, 24, 25, 27;
evades fulfilling guarantees
to Acadians desiring to re-
move to He Royale, 30-7;
her colonial policy in Acadia,
34 ; her war with France in
Canada, 49-58; by forming
British colonies in Nova
Scotia hopes to settle the
Acadian question, 59-63 ; her
Acadian policy, 62-3, 67, 86,
88-9, 90-1, 116-18 ; and the
boundaries of Nova Scotia,
71-2 ; determines upon ag-
gressive action in America,
102; and the Seven Years'
War, 137. See New Eng-
land.
Green, Benjamin,
Halifax, founding of, 59-60;
raided, 81.
Hamilton, Captain, 84.
Handheld, Major, assists in the
expulsion, 119, 124-5.
Hebert, Francois, aids in the
escape of Acadians, 135.
Hubert, Joseph, 97.
Hebert, Louis, 6.
Hopson, Peregrine, governor
of Nova Scotia, his concilia-
tory policy, 83-4, 86, 87, usn.,
116-17.
Howe, Captain, his treacherous
murder, 79.
176
THE ACADIAN EXILES
He Royale, fortified by France,
29-30 ; captured by British,
51-2; restored to France, 58.
IleSt Jean, restored to France,
58 ; deportation of the Aca-
dians of, 153-5.
Indians of Acadia, hostile to
the British, 24, 25, 40-1, 67 ;
and the Acadians, 33-4; allies
of the French, 50 ; on war-
path against the British, 67,
72, 73, 78-9, 81 ; a brutal act
towards, 84-5 ; their insolent
demands, 95-6 ; impressed by
British success against the
French, 105-6 ; join Acadians
against the British, 153.
Kirkes, their raids on New
France, 7, 9, 10.
La Come, Chevalier de, 72, 75,
78.
La Galissoniere, French com-
missioner in the boundary
dispute, 71-2, 82.
La Jonquiere, Marquis de,
governor of New France, 68,
72, 81, 83.
Lanneau, John and Basil, 142.
La Roche, Marquis de, 2.
La Tour, Charles de, 7-8 ; his
dual allegiance to France and
Britain, 9, 12 ; his dispute with
Charnisay, 11-12; governor
of Acadia, 12-13.
La Tour, Claude de, 8 ; a
Baronet of Nova Scotia, 9.
Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, his Aca-
dian descent, 159.
Lawrence, Charles, lieutenant-
governor of Nova Scotia, 87,
iiSn. ; attempts to settle
colonists at Chignecto Bay,
74-5, 78 ; his uncompromising
attitude towards the Aca-
dians, 89-90, 91-5 ; his Indian
policy, 95; his aggressive
policy towards the French,
102-3 ; decides on the expul-
sion, 107, no, 113, 115, 118-
119 and note, 124, 136, 137,
138, 143, 151 ; serious charges
against, 155 n.
Le Blanc, Charles, 97.
Le Blanc, Charles, an Acadian
exile, 145.
Le Blanc, Rt. Rev. Edward,
159-
Le Blanc, Hon. P. E., 159.
Le Blanc, Rene, his cruel mis-
fortune, 139.
Le Borgne, captures fort at
La Heve, 18-19.
Le Loutre, Abbe", stirs up
Indians against the British,
50, 53, 67 n., 72, 73, 74, 76,
77, 80, 95, 96, loo.
Lescarbot, Marc, 6.
Lewis, Captain, and the ex-
pulsion, 121, 134.
Lords of Trade. See Great
Britain.
Louisbourg, surrendered to the
British, 51-2.
Louisiana, and the Acadians,
141, ISO.
Malecites, the, 2, 53. See
Indians.
Marin, besieges Annapolis, 51.
Maryland, and the Acadians,
148.
Mascarene, Paul, lieutenant-
governor, and the Acadians,
36-7, 48, 55-7, 59.
Massachusetts, and the Aca-
dians, 148-50, 156.
INDEX
177
Membertou, a Micmac saga-
more, 6.
Menneval, governor of Acadia,
20.
Micmacs, the, 2, 27, 41, 50, 53,
72, 74, 83. See Indians.
^ouc-ktenrColonel, his expedi-
tion against the French at
Beausejour, 103-5 > assists in
the expulsion, 119, 120-1.
Monts, Sieur de, his colonizing
venture in Acadia, 3-5.
Moore, Sir Harry, governor of
New York, 146-7.
Morris, Robert Hunter, gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania, 143-4.
Murray, Captain, 97, 107; as-
sists in the expulsion, 119,
125-6, 127.
New Brunswick, the Acadian
population in, 160.
Newcastle, Duke of, and the
Acadians, 56.
New England, and the capture
of Acadia, 21-3; her dis-
astrous expedition against
New France, 25-6 ; at war
with New France, 50-8, 75-
76, 78-80, 81-2, 101-3. See
Great Britain.
New France, encourages Aca-
dian hostility towards the
British, 24, 25, 67; at war
with New England, 50-8, 75-
76, 78-80, 81-2, 191-3 ; men-
aces Nova Scotia, 67, 95.
See France.
New York and the Acadians,
145-7-
Nicholson, Colonel Francis,
captures Port Royal, 22-
23; his abortive expedition
against New France, 26;
A.E. M
governor of Nova Scotia, 28,
3> 3 1 -
Noble, Colonel Arthur, meets
with disaster at Grand Pre",
53-4-
Nova Scotia, 27, 30, 34; and
the Indians, 40-1, 72-4; the
boundary dispute, 49, 71-2;
Halifax founded, 59-62 ; war
between French and British
in, 75-6, 78-9, 80-2 ; the ex-
pulsion, 119-37, I52-3. 155;
the Acadian population in
1911, 160. See Acadia, Aca-
dians, Council, Indians.
Pennsylvania, and the Aca-
dians, 142-5.
Pepperrell, Sir William, his
siege of Louisbourg, 51.
Perrot, governor of Acadia, 14.
Perry, Captain, 121.
Philipps, Richard, governor of
NovaTScotia, and the oath of
allegiance, 35, 37-8 ; and the
Indians, 40-1, 46 ; his suc-
cessful administration, 44-6,
47, 65-6, 112.
Phips, Sir William, his capture
of Port Royal and siege of
Quebec, 20-1.
Poirier, Hon. Pascal, 159.
Port Royal, 3, nn. ; French
settlements at, 5-8 ; raided by
Argall, 6; Scottish settle-
ment at, 17-18 ; its final sur-
render to the British, 21-3.
See Annapolis Royal.
Poutrincourt, Baron de, sei-
gneur of Port Royal, 3-4, 5, 7.
Preble, Major, 121.
Prince Edward Island, the
Acadian population in, 160.
See lie St Jean.
178
THE ACADIAN EXILES
Quebec, and the Acadians, 151-
152, 157.
Ramesay, his expedition into
Acadia, 52-3, 55.
Raymond, Count de, governor
of He Royale, 83.
Razilly, Isaac de, 10-11.
Richelieu, Cardinal, and Aca-
dia, 9, 10.
Robinson, Sir Thomas, his
conciliatory Acadian policy,
118 and note, 124.
Rous, Captain, 80; destroys
Fort St John, 105.
Rous, John, npn.
St Croix, De Monts' settle-
ment at, 4-5.
St Ours, at Chignecto Bay,
81-2.
Santo Domingo, and the Aca-
dians, 147.
Scots Fort, 8, 17-18. See Port
Royal.
Sedgwick, Robert, captures
Port Royal, 18.
Seven Years' War, and the
expulsion, 137.
Shirley, William, his efforts to
drive the French from Nova
Scotia, 53, 57, 101-2 ; and the
Acadians, 56-7, in ; British
commissioner in the Nova
Scotia boundary dispute, 82.
Six Nation Indians, 26; at
Annapolis Royal, 27.
South Carolina, and the Aca-
dians, 140-2.
Subercase, governor of Aca-
dia, 21-3.
Temple, Sir Thomas, governor
of Nova Scotia, 18.
Vaudreuil, governor of New
France, 23, 142.
Vergor, Captain, 80 ; surrenders
at Beausejour, 103-5.
Vetch, Colonel Samuel, 23-7; re-
fuses Acadians permission to
remove to He Royale, 30, 31.
Villebon, governor of Acadia,
20-1.
Villeray, commander at Fort
Gaspereau, 105.
Virginia, and the Acadians, 141,
150.
Walker, Sir Hoyenden, his dis-
astrous expedition, 26.
Walpole, Sir Robert, and A(
dia, 34.
Warren, Admiral, 51.
Winniett, Madame, her
in Annapolis, 39-40.
Winslow, Colonel, assists in
the expulsion, 119, 127-36.
Wroth, Ensign, administers
oath to Acadians, 42-3.
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press
THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA
Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton
of the University of Toronto
A series of thirty-two freshly-written narratives for
popular reading, designed to set forth, in historic con-
tinuity, the principal events and movements in Canada,
from the Norse Voyages to the Railway Builders.
PART I. THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS
1. The Dawn of Canadian History
A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada
BY STEPHEN LEACOCK
2. The Mariner of St Malo
A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier
BY STEPHEN LEACOCK
PART II. THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE
3. The Founder of New France
A Chronicle of Champlain
BY CHARLES W. COLBY
4. The Jesuit Missions
A Chronicle of the Cross in the Wilderness
BY THOMAS GUTHRIE MARQUIS
5. The Seigneurs of Old Canada
A Chronicle of New- World Feudalism
BY WILLIAM BENNETT MUNRO
6. The Great Intendant
A Chronicle of Jean Talon
BY THOMAS CHAPAIS
7. The Fighting Governor
A Chronicle of Frontenac
BY CHARLES W. COLBY
The Chronicles of Canada
PART III. THE ENGLISH INVASION
8. The Great Fortress
A Chronicle of Louisbourg
BY WILLIAM WOOD
9. The Acadian Exiles
A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline
BY ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY
10. The Passing of New France
A Chronicle of Montcalm
BY WILLIAM WOOD
11. The Winning of Canada
A Chronicle of Wolfe
BY WILLIAM WOOD
PART IV. THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA
12. The Father of British Canada
A Chronicle of Carleton
BY WILLIAM WOOD
13. The United Empire Loyalists
A Chronicle of the Great Migration
BY W. STEWART WALLACE
14. The War with the United States
A Chronicle of 1812
BY WILLIAM WOOD
PART V. THE RED MAN IN CANADA
15. The War Chief of the Ottawas
A Chronicle of the Pontiac War
BY THOMAS GUTHRIE MARQUIS
16. The War Chief of the Six Nations
A Chronicle of Joseph Brant
BY LOUIS AUBREY WOOD
17. Tecumseh
A Chronicle of the last Great Leader of his People
BY ETHEL T. RAYMOND
The Chronicles of Canada
PART VI. PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST
1 8. The 'Adventurers of England ' on Hudson
Bay
A Chronicle of the Fur Trade in the North
BY AGNES C. LAUT
19. Pathfinders of the Great Plains
A Chronicle of La V6rendrye and his Sons
BY LAWRENCE J. BURPEE
20. Adventurers of the Far North
A Chronicle of the Arctic Seas
BY STEPHEN LEACOCK
21. The Red River Colony
A Chronicle of the Beginnings of Manitoba
BY LOUIS AUBREY WOOD
22. Pioneers of the Pacific Coast
A Chronicle of Sea Rovers and Fur Hunters
BY AGNES C. LAUT
23. The Cariboo Trail
A Chronicle of the Gold-fields of British Columbia
BY AGNES C. LAUT
PART VII. THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM
24. The Family Compact
A Chronicle of the Rebellion in Upper Canada
BY W. STEWART WALLACE
25. The Patriotes of '37
A Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lower Canada
BY ALFRED D. DECELLES
26. The Tribune of Nova Scotia
A Chronicle of Joseph Howe
BY WILLIAM LAWSON GRANT
27. The Winning of Popular Government
A Chronicle of the Union of 1841
BY ARCHIBALD MACMECHAN
The Chronicles of Canada
PART VIII. THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY
28. The Fathers of Confederation
A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion
BY A. H. U. COLQUHOUN
29. The Day of Sir John Macdonald
A Chronicle of the Early Years of the Dominion
BY SIR JOSEPH POPE
30. The Day of Sir Wilfrid Laurier
A Chronicle of Our Own Times
BY OSCAR D. SKELTON
PART IX. NATIONAL HIGHWAYS
31. All Afloat
A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways
BY WILLIAM WOOD
32. The Railway Builders
A Chronicle of Overland Highways
BY OSCAR D. SKELTON
Published by
Glasgow, Brook & Company
at 15 Wilton Avenue
TORONTO, CANADA
1
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11